After Armageddon
by Rose's.wings
Summary: I want to live. That's a hard thing for me and my friends to do under the Director's rule. Maybe if Max had won in Germany, things would be different; than again, maybe not. Either way I'm going to defeat the Director, just wait and see. We'll live. No M4
1. Prologue

Here's my new Max Ride story. I'll warn you now, this takes place like thirty something years after the third book. At least I think that's right...

Zel: It's been 24 years.  
Rose: whispers: math geek  
Zel: Computer nerd  
Rose: ;P Thank You  
Zel: sighs: she doesn't own any of the original characters so you might just want to ignore her and read the chapter.

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After Armageddon

Prologue  
Charlie Ride

What if Maximum Ride had never saved the world?

Well, it isn't very pretty, let me tell you. I don't know what happened in your world, but in mine, the Director (also known as the Dictator) won that night at the castle where she had been keeping the remaining "failed" experiments.

Fortunately, Max, Nudge, and Angel all managed to escape, as well as several of the other prisoners. The three girls regrouped with Fang, Iggy, and the Gasman shortly after that and the six of them somehow managed to elude the Dictator's clutches for over ten years.

But it didn't last. One windy evening, they were ambushed by Flyboys, who took them to who knows where. They haven't been seed since.

So there's your background. The Dictator murdered roughly 3 billion people and most likely my parents, uncles, and aunts. I'm afraid that I don't have my mom's gift with writing, and since all the events that you'll read about have already happened, the people who actually went through them will be writing what happened to them. We've put the names of whoever is speaking up with the chapter title, just to let you know. Liela and I have managed to put the different viewpoints together and in chronological order so don't worry about that.

Thanks for reading.

Charlie Ride

P.S. - Remember history repeats itself! Maybe with this you can stop that stupid cycle.

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I know chapter one is really short, chapter two is even shorter, but the chapters **will** get longer so don't worry about that. Thanks for reading, please drop a review in the brown box on your way out. Thanks. Bye 


	2. Chapter 1: The Renegade

Chapter two is ready! Though its so short that I hesitate to call it a chapter. Don't worry though, I'll put up the next, really long, chapter in a day at the latest.

Thank you to DarkBlade98 for your review and I'll bold this so everybody will notice it. **Charlie is a boy.** Just to let you know.

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After Armageddon

Chapter One: The Renegade

Lone Whitecoat

Liela Lufte was a fairly average teenager. She was of medium height, although her frame was smaller then most girls her age, her hair was a brownish color near the roots and gradually turned blonde as it reached the tips. I couldn't presently see her eyes, but I knew that they were a deep blue that reminded me of the night sky well after the sun has gone down.

At the moment, she was deep asleep because of the drugs I had given her several hours earlier. She would wake soon, so I quickly finished my work and removed my belongings so she would have idea of who I was. I was just about ready to leave when I looked one last time at one of the world's few remaining saving angels. She didn't know it now, but she was one of the last people on Earth who would be able to put the world back on track by overthrowing the Director.

I prayed she wouldn't fail.

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There, see, real short. I bet you can guess who the Lone Whitecoat is right off the bat. I prabably won't keep it a 'secret' long. See ya next time. 


	3. Chapter 2: The Ice Mall

I'm back, and I brought chapter two with me. Oh, by the way, Liela is the word for violet in German and its pronounced Lee-la. Christian sounds like Kristy-Ann (say it fast and it sounds right), Michaela (I'm probably spelling it wrong so sorry!) is Mick-I-Ella, David is said the same because it's english, and Heinrich is Hine-Rick. In German, if you see an I and an E next to each other, you pronounce the second one and the first one is pretty much silent.

Zel: German lesson included for free.  
Rose: Thank you disclaimer Guardian.

Thanks goes to DarkBlade98 and lexicuti4eva for reviewing. If you go to LiveJournal and search for zellerose under the site and user selection in the right hand corner then you'll see that I gave you each something! Anyway, here's chapter two.

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After Armageddon

Chapter Two: The Ice Mall

Liela

When I was younger, I lived with my parents and younger brother in Munich, Germany. My brother, Heinrich, and I were happy with our parents, who were both electrical engineers. While they were amazing engineers, they were even better ice skaters. My mom used to be a figure skater when she was younger and my dad was the star of his school hockey team. That's how they met actually; they both went to the same ice rink.

Heinrich and I both inherited our love of the ice from our parents although I have no idea why Dad and Heinrich love hockey so much. Heinrich lost nearly all his bottom teeth the first time he really played! No, figure skating is soooo much cooler, literally and figuratively. We don't get all that heavy padding to help keep us warm like hockey players do.

Unfortunately, Mom didn't get to teach me everything she wanted to about skating. She and Dad died in a car accident as they were driving home for my twelfth birthday. It was raining and the road was slick.

After they died, my brother and I were forced to live with our stern and demanding Aunt and Uncle in Berlin along with the five spoiled brats that I'm sad to say were our cousins. For the next six months our lives were a living Hell. The five idiots constantly teased us, especially Heinrich. He was the youngest out of all of us and it didn't help that he was small for his age.

Not that I was able to skip out on the fun. Chloe and Petra made sure that I was taken care of by berating my every action. They were the only two girls out of the five and both were older then myself. Their favorite joke was to foist off all their household chores on me and then call me Cinderliela as I did them. Yes, the family love was always present in that house, which is why I thank God for the neighbors.

The Clutter's were a nice family that lived about a mile away. Newly weds Paul and Katerina Clutter had moved from America back to Mrs. Clutter's native Germany shortly after the By-Half plan had been put into effect. They had tried to escape the massacre in America by moving only to realize that it was happening all over the world.

Nine years later, when they were 29 and 30, they had their first child. Christian Clutter is two years older then his sister Michaela, who is not only my age but is also my best friend, and four years older then his younger brother David, who is my brothers best friend and same age. Heinrich and I are very close with the Clutter family. They were the closest thing we had to a family then and we spent as much time as we could with them.

In fact, Michaela was with me when I discovered the Ice Mall. The ice Mall was really an old strip mall that had an ice rink in the center with eight assorted stores surrounding it. We quickly went to find our brothers and tell them about our discovery. They were just as amazed by it as we were. Fortunately, Christian had been smart enough to bring a couple of flashlights, so we all started to explore the mall immediately.

The Ice Mall looked like it had been abandoned after the By-Half plan had wiped out its shoppers. For the most part, it was untouched by time except for a few slightly decrepit buildings on the outskirts. As we explored, we began to suspect that this had been a place for teens to hang out before the world had been half emptied. Besides the ice rink, there was a book store, movie rental place, something that looked like an old fashioned diner, a sweetshop, a music store, a sporting goods store, a toy store, and, finally, a clothing store that seemed to have everything from baby booties to granny hats.

The Ice Mall became something like our secret hideout. No one outside the five of us knew about it and Heinrich and I snuck there whenever we could to get away from our Aunt and Uncle's house. One of our favorite things to do was play Broomball, a game that Mr. Clutter had learned back in America. It's kinda like hockey except you use a ball instead of a puck and you only use half of the ice rink to play. The best part about it is that you wear tennis shoes instead of skates. We would usually play boys against girls. Michaela and I always won, except for when we lost.

I remember that I had been dreaming about playing Broomball with my friends just before I woke up in the lab. I felt groggy and confused as I came to and realized that I wasn't in my closet of a room. I was lying on a steel surgical table that had open arm and leg braces lying uselessly over the edge. I noticed it was very clean and practically empty as I clumsily hopped off the table and nearly fell flat on my face. After I regained what was left of my balance I walked over to the counter nearest me. There wasn't anything on it although there was a light switch next to it. The sharp, white light hurt my eyes, but at least now I could see.

Too bad there wasn't anything to see. Aside from the table that I had been on, there was a roller chair near the counter I was standing next to and a laptop computer sitting on a small, collapsible desk across the room. I staggered over to it in hopes that it could tell me something about where I was and what was going on.

I pulled the single chair with me and gratefully fell into it after I pushed the power button on the computer. It started up quickly but I wasn't able to learn _anything_ because a password bar popped up, denying me access.

I groaned. My head hurt, my body ached, and my back was killing me. Not to mention that I had no idea where I was or what was going on. I sat there for awhile trying to think of what to do next. I couldn't think of much, so I stood up, hoping to see what was outside, when my foot bumped into something under the desk. I bent down to see what it was and was surprised to see that it was my bag. I pulled it out from under the desk and plopped it on the table to see if it still had all my things.

Amazingly it did. My CD player and music were still in the back zipper pocket. The main body still had my brand new holo-book and my many, many, story discs that I had collected throughout the years. My cell phone, however, was gone, although my small digital camera was still were I had left it as well as my new shoe-skates that had been a gift from the Clutters for my fourteenth birthday.

The shoes reminded me of clothes and I saw that what I was wearing couldn't really be put in that category. It was more like a hospital gown then anything else, except it was uglier then the kind I had seen. I looked around me for some real clothes before I saw a stack in my bag. I knew for a fact that I hadn't put them in there even though they were most definitely my clothes.

Deciding that I didn't care how they got there, I took off the ugly rag and changed.

As I pulled on my shoes, the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. I glanced around the room again. No one was there and the single door and window were locked from the inside. I knew that because I had checked before I took off the rag I had been wearing. I quickly grabbed my bag and stood to leave then on instinct, I picked up the laptop and stuck it inside next to my holo-book.

I made for the door but something inside me screamed not to open it or the window. I looked around the room, hoping that I had missed another way out.

It was about then that I noticed the door knob was turning and shadowy silhouettes were trying to look inside the shaded window. My head was screaming at me to get out, but I didn't know how.

"Open the door. This is the Police." A mechanical voice outside started to repeat its message.

_Oh no Not them._ I thought to myself. Before they had died, my parents had warned us about the robots that were called the Police. They were used more by the higher ups who worked in the labs scattered throughout the world. More often then not, if they were after you, then you were a failed project that they needed to deal with.

And by deal with, I mean kill.

So needless to say, I was freaking out. I looked around the room again in a futile attempt to find a way out. I shivered as the door trembled as the police started to break it down and a slight breeze rustled my hair. Then I realized that I was in a closed room with no fans of any sort.

So where was the breeze coming from?

I stuck my index finger in my mouth and then held it up, trying to tell where the fresh air was coming from.

There. I ran back over to the desk that had had the laptop and tried to move it aside. It wouldn't budge so I looked at the wall trying to find a crack.

BANG!!!

The door was starting to splinter, so I quickly looked under the desk and nearly missed the slightly open wall panel in my haste. I pulled the panel away as quietly and quickly as I could away from the wall.

As soon as it was open I flung my bag and then my body through the small hole and started pulling the stubborn panel shut. It had just sealed itself shut with a tiny, inaudible click when I heard the door burst open.

I stayed perfectly still as the Police searched the room, holding my breath whenever they got close to my hiding spot.

"She's not here." One of them said in a cold, unemotional voice.

"Are you sure?" An even colder voice replied, except this one seemed to be human, probably the person who was in charge of this squad.

"Yes." The first voice replied.

The second one started cussing. "The Director will have my head is we don't find her. Now keep looking!" He screamed the last sentence and the squad answered him with a single unemotional, "Yes." They then left the room to carry out their leader's order with him following close behind.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I looked down the crawl hole I was stuck in and briefly wondered where it led to before grabbing my bag and leaving to find out.

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Wow, it feels so nice to write a long chapter. I've already started writing the fourth chapter so hopefully that'll be up soon. Later! 

Review please!


	4. Chapter 3: Attack of the Flyboys!

Here's chapter four, or three really. Just to make it clear for those of you who missed it earlier, Charlie is a boy and yes he is Max's son. Ummm, yeah, well, go ahead, read it.

Zel: Rose doesn't own a thing that James Patterson does. But if you see anyone new, chances are they're hers.

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After Armageddon

Chapter Three: Attack of the Flyboys!

Charlie

"Ow, watch where you're going Aaron." I told my floppy eared friend for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"Well then hurry up!" Aaron retorted for also the thousandth time as we crawled on our hands and knees through the unknown contents of the large pipe line. Aaron was faster then me by far, (it came with the whole human/rabbit hybrid package) which was why I was in front. Twisted reasoning, I know, but if he was ahead of me, I'd never be able to catch up, and right now it was probably best if we stuck together.

Not that we had a choice. We were both squashed into a pipe line crawling through mystery muck. The only good thing about the whole thing was that we were headed away from the hell hole called the School. I'm sure you've heard of it. Most people who read this seem to know of my mother's work, which makes explanations not needed, thank goodness. Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

"Owww!" I yelled as Aaron bumped into me again.

"Sorry!" He yelled back as he tried to slow down.

After crawling for what felt like hours, both of our tempers were as sore as our hands and knees. I didn't know how much longer I could take the small space without screaming, my family has a claustrophobia issue, when I finally saw a circular patch of light up ahead.

"About time." I heard Aaron whisper behind me.

We crawled a little faster, wanting to get into the fresh air and sun as soon as possible. I stopped briefly at the end of the pipe and saw that it stuck out of the cliff face a good ways from the ground.

Fortunately, that wasn't a problem. "Back up a little." I told Aaron over my shoulder just as I recognized the familiar flash of light that meant he had 'changed'. Usually, the flash was more of a glow, but the metal walls of the pipe were reflecting the small light, making it more noticeable.

Once the light was gone, I turned around as best I could in the small space and saw a white rabbit where Aaron had just been.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" I asked, not really bothering to hide the anger in my voice. If he had been in his rabbit form, then he wouldn't have kept bumping into me.

I turned back around and unfurled my dark wings as much as I could in the limited space, knowing full well that Aaron wouldn't answer me. It wasn't that he wouldn't, but more that he couldn't. I mean, even in me strange life, I haven't heard a rabbit talk, at least not yet.

However, while Aaron might not be able to talk to me, he did understand every word I said. So when I told him to jump in my backpack so we could get out of there, he did so without hesitation. Once he was settled, I jumped out of the pipe opening and opened my wings some more so I wouldn't just outright fall.

When I was far enough away from the cliff face, I extended my near black wings to their full length and soared off into the sky, putting as much distance between us and Hell on Earth.

* * *

It wasn't until later that night that something went wrong. I was amazed actually. Usually, it only took a few hours at the most, but there we were, all afternoon and most of the evening just sitting around going, "That's strange, something should've gone wrong by now." 

But of course, something did. So don't worry, all is right with the world, or at least, as right as it can be with Psycho Woman in charge.

Anyway, back to what happened...

We heard someone crashing around in the bushes; Aaron and I looked at each other and silently agreed with each other. As he _changed_, I jumped into a nearby tree branch and sat as still as I could as I waited for whatever it was to pass by and, hopefully, leave us alone. Soon, a girl burst through the bushes. She looked like she was running in circles, but then I realized that she was trying to see what was going on around her. She was breathing hard, like she had been running, and her body was covered in small scratches from bushes small tree limbs. Eventually, she tripped in her mad scramble to see everything at once and she landed flat on her back.

She looked straight up and our eyes locked.

"Helf!" She cried in an accent I didn't recognize just as half a dozen Flyboys broke through the underbrush of the forest.

"You are obsolete. You will be exterminated." They were all repeating in their mechanical voices. I rolled my eyes. Someone seriously needed to consider improving the Flyboys vocab.

"Helf!" The girl screamed again. "Bitte, helf mir!" She screamed as she crawled frantically away from the approaching Flyboys.

I looked over at the bushes that Aaron had disappeared into and saw his reddish eyes glinting back at me. We both moved at once. I dropped down out of the tree, feet first, to land on an unfortunate Flyboy square in the back, shutting him down. At the same time, Aaron kicked out with a half _changed_ foot, shutting down more Flyboys.

Some small, watching, part of my mind saw that the girl was sitting there, watching us in amazement. Then one of the Flyboys started towards her again. Instead of sitting there and shrieking like I expected her to, she lashed out with her legs, kicking the Flyboy. My expectations seemed to be failing me because the Flyboy slumped forward, sparks flying from its chest. Any one who knew anything about Flyboys knows that the only way to shut them down is to either smack them in their one design flaw (which the makers have not fixed for some reason) or shut down the main computer that's controlling them. This girl hadn't done either, yet the Flyboy (boys now) had stopped. Then I saw her secret weapon. Skates. The blades on her shoes were cutting the Flyboys internal wires to ribbons.

I smashed my foot into the last robot's back and our small skirmish was over. The girl staggered to her feet and tiredly looked around her.

"Danke sehr." She said to us and I realized that she didn't speak English.

"Your welcome." Aaron said anyway, whether because he understood what she'd said or just because I don't know.

A confused look passed over her tired face, right before pain swept over them and she fell to her knees.

Aaron and I cautiously walked closer. It was never safe to assume that everyone being chased by Flyboys was your friend or that they would be grateful you'd helped then out. But by the time we were close enough to touch her, she was just trying not to scream as she clutched at her back.

At first I thought that one of the Flyboys had gotten in a lucky shot, but then I pulled up the back of her shirt and saw the feathers.

She was growing wings.

She was a mutant like us.

She was a bird kid like me.

I looked up at Aaron, shocked. I could see he was just as weirded out by this as I was. Most, no, all mutants were changed before they were actually born. Otherwise their DNA would fall apart at an alarming rate, usually a few years after it had been tampered with.

Whoever this girl was, she was in for a short life. But then again, we were too.

"Mom's?" Aaron asked, not needing to elaborate. After you know someone for a good ten years, you tend to understand what their saying without them saying it.

"Yeah." I answered, picking up the girl, noticing how light she was. I also noticed for the first time that she had a backpack slung over one shoulder. I picked it up and gave it to Aaron, who would be running to Mom's house since I had to carry the girl.

"Watch out for more Flyboys. Whoever she is, I think they want her back." I told him.

He gave me a no duh look. "Gee I hadn't figured that out yet Sherlock." He shot back at me. "And besides you're the one that's actually carrying her so you watch it." He said as he finished situating the two backpacks.

I couldn't think of anything smart to say to him so I settled for a, "Sure." Then I took off into the air after making sure that he was on his way through the forest.

'_Right,'_ I thought to myself as I started to fly. _'Let's put that super speed to good use.'_

In the blink of an eye, I was miles away.

* * *

Here's what Liela said. "Help!" "Help! Please help me." "Thank you very much." 

Ps, if my German is wrong (I've only finished level two and its summer so everything is kinda leaking out my ears) please tell me. I'm pretty sure I got it right, but I'm not sure.

Rose:I'm sorry, I can't come to the computer right now, but please leave me a review at the sound of the guardian.  
Zel: That would be me. Beep!


	5. Chapter 4: Mom's House

Chapter Four! All right! I bet you never thought that...that...well, I 'm not sure what you thought because I'm not a mind reader, but the fact that I've made it to chapter four is still cool!

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After Armageddon

Chapter Four: Mom's House

Charlie

A few days later, I woke to the sound of birds, normal birds, singing outside my window as sunlight streamed through a gap in the curtains.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm at Mom's house. Really Dr. Valencia Martinez is my grandmother, but 'mother' was still part of the word as far as I could tell. But then again, I've never gotten anything resembling a real education, so I could be wrong. Besides, since my parents died, Grandma has been looking after Cal and me.

"Charlie, breakfast is ready!"

"_Speak of the devil."_ I thought as Cal called from the kitchen. Calina (Ride) Martinez is my 20 year old older sister. She's a bossy know-it-all who's lived with our Grandma since she was born. She looks almost exactly like Mom with her blonde hair and tan skin. The only thing that doesn't make her another clone of Mom is her eyes. She (like me, I might add) has Dad's dark eyes. I actually look more like Dad, dark hair, dark eyes, and dark wings that, I've been told, are just like his. Sometimes, I've wonder what Cal's wings would've looked liked if genetics had given her any. You see, somehow, (probably due to the fact that our parents _were_ 90 human) Cal was born looking like a completely normal person on the outside. She's not too tall, she has no wings, and she actually has no feathers anywhere on her body. On the inside however, she's just like me and Will. She's extremely light because her bones are hollow and she's extraordinarily strong. She can literally run like the wind and she's an amazing acrobat. Plus, since she doesn't have wings, she can actually live in normal society. You see, the Dictator learned her lesson after my parents, aunts, and uncles escaped the School and royally messed up their 'take over the world' plans. After that, any and all human-avian hybrids were "built" without wings. Basically, she had "clipped" them.

But of course they adapted, especially those that were against the Dictator to begin with. Like Cal and Taylor, arrogant brat that he is, he's still on our side. How do I know? Well, it seems that he likes my sister. He likes her a lot. And for some strange reason I can't even begin to understand, she likes him too.

I, on the other hand, can barely stand him, which is why I groaned as I entered the kitchen when I saw him sitting at the table that morning. What can I say? He bugs me for no apparent reason.

"Good morning to you too squirt." He told me over his cup of coffee.

Okay so there is an apparent reason, but let's not think about that right now.

Anyway, he seemed unusually happy (more like "cheerful") that morning, which made me very suspicious. Usually, if he liked it, I didn't.

"Good morning Charlie." Cal said as she put breakfast in front of me. I looked at it like it was going to bite me, probably because it would if I gave it a chance because Cal didn't cook. It was one of those things she had gotten from Mom.

Then I saw that she was wearing a diamond ring on her left ring finger.

For a moment I think I sat there gawking. I had had a feeling that this would happen for a long time now, but it still shocked me. After a few minutes of award silence, (that I was oblivious to) I noticed that Cal was staring at me nervously.

I finally made my mouth work and did my best to smile at them. After all, Cal was my sister and I knew that she and Taylor did seriously care about teach other, no matter how much he annoyed me personally.

"That's great!" I said, still surprised by the whole thing. Fortunately, Aaron shuffled in just about them and saved me from another awkward silence.

"What's great?" He asked through a yawn. He never had been a morning person.

"We're getting married!" Cal yelled out excitedly.

Aaron looked confused. "You and Charlie?"

Like I said, the rabbit was never a morning person.

"Gross, no! Me and Taylor." She said beaming in spite of the wrongness of his assumption.

"Oh," Aaron said blandly. Then the announcement sunk into his sleep fogged brain and he gave Cal a hug. Unlike me, Aaron actually liked Taylor. Plus he was Cal's brother as much as I was, seeing how he had been basically adopted into my family after he and I escaped from the School when we were five.

A few moments later, the kitchen had turned into one giant hug fest as Grandma and Aunt Ella joined us.

"Hey Mom?" called a voice from the kitchen's second doorway that led to Aunt Ella's room.

"Yes Will?" Aunt Ella answered her son, who was about six months younger then me. At thirteen, almost fourteen, William Martinez was his dad's mini clone. Even as far as bird kids went he was tall; his hair was a bright shade of blonde that reminded me of electricity. His blue eyes had the same electric quality, like he was plugged into a light socket. I always think that if I touch him I'll get shocked. The weird thing is that sometimes I do.

But despite his electric look, Will was usually very calm, almost to the pint of that he appeared indifferent to everything. Right now though, I was that my cousin was jumpy, no matter how hard he tried to hide it behind his usual composed exterior.

"She's awake." He said gesturing to the room behind him where Aunt Ella and Grandma had put the girl. I had feeling that the reason Will was nervous was because they had put a complete, and possibly dangerous, stranger in his mother's room.

Grandma immediately let Cal out of her hug and went to see how, and hopefully who, our mystery girl was. Aaron and I were right behind her, but we hung back near the doorway while she went and sat next to the patient.

The girl looked scared, but then again, if I woke up in a semi-dark room with a bunch of strangers gawking at me, I would be a lot less cool then she was now.

Before we came in, the blonde girl had been gazing around the room, taking everything in, but she quickly switched her attention to us once the door opened. Grandma quickly and quietly crossed the small room and sat gently on the bed next to the stranger. She quietly began to talk to her, calmly trying to explain what had happened to her since she had met Aaron and me in the forest.

Or rather, she tried to explain what had happened. It didn't take anyone long to see that she didn't know any English, especially after she started asking question that no one could answer. It wasn't that we didn't know the answer; they just didn't know what she was asking.

Grandma tried Spanish briefly, but the girl just shook her head and repeated her, "Ich sprache Enlgisch night." stuff. But eventually we figured out she was trying to tell us, 'I don't speak English.' in German.

German, great, too bad our computer doesn't have a multi-lingual word processor.

Fortunately for us, Will seemed to have one in his head, or at least he had decided to take German as his foreign language credit in school.

"Her name's Liela and she lives on the outskirts of Munich." Will translated Liela's words as the poured out in a steady stream from her mouth. He went on to say, or rather Liela said it and Will made it understandable, that someone had kidnapped her as she was walking to go hang out with her friends at an old strip mall. She didn't know how long it had been from then until now, but Grandma told us later that from the state she was in, it must have been a month at the very least.

However, while she remembered nothing of who had kidnapped her, she did remember foggy dreamlike memories of the room that she had escaped from a few days ago. Always there was at least one shadowy silhouette standing over her, although a few times there were two of them and one was much smaller and thinner then they other.

"Well," Aaron said as everybody was shooed out of the room by Grandma who stayed to take care of Liela. "That was interesting." He grabbed his glass from the table then sat down to stare at the rest of us from his seat. "So what are we going to do about this?" He asked as everybody else took their seat or made themselves comfortable somewhere else.

"If you mean the renegade Whitecoats," Taylor said pressing a hand to his temple as he did so. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Aaron asked confused.

"Nothing," Taylor reaffirmed. "We have no way of finding out who they are, much less where they are or what they're doing. It would be pointless to tell the Order anything," He said with more force as Aaron opened his mouth to suggest telling the secret order that was largely behind every rebel movement against the Dictator. "Since we have nothing that would help them."

"No," Aunt Ella said from her spot against the tiled wall. "The order will want to know about Liela, especially since it seems like the School didn't create her in the first place."

"They'll also want to know about the existence of Rouge Whitecoats." Cal said as she bit her nails out of nervous habit.

Aunt Ella nodded in agreement. "Okay then, I'll see if I can contact them tomorrow and-"

She stopped abruptly as the sound of the front door closing and opening in an almost calm succession. Equally calm were the footsteps that came towards us in to the kitchen in slow measured steps.

We all waited tensely as one by one we realized who's measured steps were bringing him closer to us. No of us were surprised when Jeb, wrinkled and grey haired, came into the room.

"What do you want?" I ground out through my teeth.

The old bastard only smiled at me like I was a child that didn't understand his complicated adult reasoning for everything he'd done.

I didn't, but that wasn't the problem.

"Your grandmother invited me Charlie." He said in what was supposed to be a soothing tone, but I only heard the condescension ringing through it. "She needs my help to finish the experiment."

"She has a name you know." Aaron said seemingly calm as he propped his feet up on the table. Cal quickly pushed them off again, but that only reinforced his calm and fairly happy disposition as he faced down one of the worst traitors in our time.

Jeb stared at the white haired geek, his face almost to the point of anger, but Grandma walked in before things could get out of hand.

"She's in here, Batchelder." Grandma's tone revealed her dislike of her peer, although her face and body didn't let any other emotion through.

My breath hissed through my teeth as Jeb followed Grandma into the other room, but aside from that small noise, it was scary quiet. None of us ever could play nice when that vile thing was nearby and we had all found that it was better to stay quiet unless we wanted Grandma's wrath to descend on us. But Jeb had used up to many second chances for us to stop thinking badly of him, even though we couldn't voice our thoughts.

A scream suddenly jerked our hate-thoughts to a stop. I jumped up off the counter I had been using as a chair and rushed towards Aunt Ella's bedroom door just as Liela ran out and hid behind Cal and Aaron. I stood nearby as Jeb walked out the dark to meet our silent accusations.

"I suggest you start explaining things Batchelder." Grandma said icily from the doorway behind him with her arms crossed and we all waited for the undoubtedly half lie that we were about to hear.

* * *

The lying jerk is back! What incredible story will he attempt to feed Charlie and his friends? Come back to find out! 


	6. Chapter 5: Two!

Yeah, not much to say except that I do not own anyone (even the mystery whitecoat you're about to hear about) except pretty much everyone in the second generation. And by that I mean _almost_ everyone.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Five: Two?!

Calina (Ride) Martinez

Here's the deal for those of you who don't know already, most people in general do not like Jeb Batchelder. There are a few that respect his mutant creating abilities, but no one actually like him, even if he is the Director's right hand man. I personally think that she keeps him so close because she's afraid he's backstabbing her again, which he is, and apparently us to seeing as Miss German girl isn't registered in any of the School's computers. For all you normal people out there (ha! normal, yeah right) Jeb made a deal with Grandma. If he told her all, and I mean all of the projects he could possible learn about and he did not create any more mutants that were not associated with either the Director or the Phoenix, such as Liela, then she would not officially list him as a traitor. Infuriating isn't it? Yes, he's technically helping us, but he's helping them too darn it. I still can't believe Grandma did that, especially with what "Grandpa" did to Mom.

I refocused on the self preserving old man as he began to explain him self.

"Please understand that I did not just kidnap Liela off the street-"

Aaron raised his hand like the kid he was, making Batchelder stop and sigh.

"Okay, so that is what I did, but I did it to finish her, not turn her from a constant into a variable."

Euphemisms, so much fun. Constants is what the Director and her lackeys call plain old humans. Variables are, you guessed it, mutants, whether they're inside a School or not.

"They are people not a scientific equation Jeb." Grandma reminded him coldly before Charlie had a chance to. "Now what do you mean by finishing?" You didn't start her mutation?"

Jeb shook his head. "No, Liela was chosen for a new avian experiment was either seen as useless or a failure because the Director discontinued it."

"So they left her," Taylor searched for the right word. "Half done? How'd she live so long as a half cooked experiment?"

Jeb sighed like he really did not want to admit the next part, but somehow the big blob of cowardice dug deep enough to find enough courage to spit it out.

"Another doctor as well as myself-"

He didn't get much farther once he was drowned out by the general out roar when it registered that not only had creepy Grandpa played around with poor Miss Liela's internal organs but some other creep as well. And who knew whose side was on.

"What?"

"Who?"

"Are you serious?"

"Well now what?"

Jeb remained silent while Grandma tried to get everyone else to shut up. Aaron was the one who finally persuaded them to do so by waling calmly our of the room into the living room where he blasted our eardrums with whatever hard rock CD Will had last put in the stereo system. I think I heard the girl in the other room scream although my ears were ringing to loud to be sure.

The horrific noise stopped and rabbit boy poked his pink nose through the door.

"Are you guys done yet or can I listen to the rest of this song?"

"Get in here." I snapped at him and he willingly hopped into the room. And yes I meant that literally as Grandma gestured for Jeb to explain.

"I'm afraid she doesn't like to be talked about, however," Jeb stopped us as we all opened our mouths to object, again. "I can say that she has helped you before in several circumstances." Such as your friend Oz," Jeb pointed to Charlie and Aaron referring to one of their acquaintances within the Phoenix. "After he somehow managed to escape from the Institution in Nevada she was the one who put him back together."

Charlie looked skeptical. "Even Oz doesn't know who helped him. It could have been anyone."

"Well," Aaron said lifting his big feet onto an empty chair. "Any wo-"

A short scream and a loud crash cut the loud mouth off as Liela bolted out of Aunt Ella's room. We didn't have enough time to try and decipher her strange panicky babble when a familiar droning sound filled the air beyond the bedroom door.

"Flyboys." Charlie said grabbing Liela's hand and pulling her along as Aaron jumped into Charlie's dark green backpack as a small white rabbit. I rushed ahead of them up the stairs to the upstairs to the so called 'Family room'. It was basically the TV and game room, but I ignored them as I ran to the fireplace and pulled the lever that opens the flu backwards. It creaked horribly but in the end the fireplace floor dropped away to reveal a skinny squirm space dropping down in to the dark. Charlie dropped his backpack with Aaron in it into the dark space and then shoved Liela towards it. She wasn't to happy about being pushed down the rabbit hole, but in the end she did and as soon as Charlie dropped down the squirm space, I closed the door and hurried back down the stairs.

Hopefully, if they didn't break anything on the way down, the three of them would drop into a dirt tunnel that was beneath the house which should lead them to clear air, free of Flyboys.

Because of course the Flyboys would be preoccupied here, trying to figure out why Batchelder was spending a nice quiet Breakfast with a family who quite honestly hated him. But in the end they would believe us because we were smart and they were _very_ stupid metal men. He he he.

* * *

Usually I would say something, but I can't think of anything so see ya next time. 


	7. Chapter 6: Dinner and a Late Night Chat

After Armageddon

Chapter Six: Dinner and a Late Night Chat

Charlie Ride

A few days later, Aaron, me, and the new girl were sitting around a campfire in a sandy bottomed cave somewhere near California, or as I liked to call it, the root of all evil.

It was my turn to figure out what to make for dinner and my choices were roughly mystery soup, fresh grass, or dirt. I didn't mind cooking really because the other alternative was trying to teach Liela some form of English. Aaron was definitely better at it then I was. He had more patience with the redundant speaking then I did I guess.

"Hey Charlie," Aaron said not looking up from the ground where he was scratching our three names in dirt. "The Whitecoat that found Oz before the mystery woman thought he was dead right?"

"I think so. Why?" I asked wondering where he was going with this as I added some flakey stuff that looked like dirt to our mystery food. I tasted the concoction on a whim and suddenly wondered if maybe it had not been dirt after all.

"Well I was thinking that if this lady was able to help Oz when one of the Whitecoats couldn't then maybe she could help Rebecca."

Crud. I should have realized he would bring this up and thought about it before. Then I would have a decent answer and not look stupid. I hate looking stupid.

"I don't know." I said truthfully. It was not a very leader-like answer but I honestly did not know if Rebecca was still alive. Even miracle workers would not be able to bring her back if she was.

Liela looked back and forth between us. "Rebecca?" She asked in her thick accent.

Aaron immediately cheered up, always happy to boast about the younger girl.

"Rebecca's my sister." He said slowly, careful to enunciate each word clearly. It did not help. Liela still looked confused.

"Okay," Aaron said picking up the stick again and wiping away our names with his foot. "This is me. Aaron." He said drawing a little square in the dirt. Although she was still confused (so was I), Liela did seem to understand that Aaron was a square.

Ha. Aaron was a square.

Okay you're right, not funny.

Back to the story, Aaron drew anther square and two circles around his. Then he connected each square to one circle so they were parallel. Then he added one vertical line that connected the sets.

"That," Aaron said pointing with his stick at the other square, "Is my dad."

Liela did not get it.

"My dad." Aaron repeated trying to think of different words for dad. "Uh, daddy, pop, papa-"

"Papa?" Liela asked uncertainly.

I could not take it anymore. "Father." I yelled across the fire.

Liela's face lit up with understanding and she nodded and smiled. "Vater, ja. Vater." She pointed to the second square.

"And that," Aaron continued pointing at the circle next to his dad's, "Is my mother."

"Mutter." Liela said with a smile. "Und das ist Rebecca?" She asked pointing to the last circle that sat next to Aaron's.

"Ja, I mean yes," Aaron said scratching his head in embarrassment. "That's my sister, Rebecca."

"Wo ist deine Schwester Rebecca?" Now it was our turn to be confused. "Uh…wo…" Liela held up her hands palm up at shoulder level like she was asking why, but I figured "Why is Rebecca?" did not make any sense. She tried again. She shaded her eyes and looked around saying "Wo ist Rebecca?" and then she clapped and whistled like she was searching for a dog.

"Hey!" Aaron said taking offence at the comparison. "My sister is not a dog!"

Liela laughed even though she probably did not understand what he said.

"I think she wants to know _where_ Rebecca is Aaron, not what she is."

"Ohhh," He said sounding like a five year old. "Well that makes more sense."

"Even if both are valid questions." I grumbled as I handed Aaron and Liela what was supposed to soup.

"Oh don't be such a pessimist Charlie." Aaron said tasting the thick bowl of sludge that was in front of him. "Although I can see where you get it if this is all you eat." He laughed and I looked up. "I don't think she likes it either." Aaron said as Liela looked at her dinner. She looked like she was going to be sick as she let thick globs of…something drop back down. The 'spelunk' sound it made almost made me sick too.

Disgusted with my-uh…soup, Liela put her bowl down and stalked over to the fire. After she basically shooed me away like Grandma in the kitchen she dug into the bag with the food Grandma had packed for us before our scrambled escape. She pulled out a couple bottles of I do not know what and then, very hesitantly, she tasted the soup.

The look on her face was priceless. I swear she was about to puke but fortunately she only gagged.

Aaron and I both laughed. "I don't think she likes your cooking Charlie."

"Yeah," I said as Liela started to add bits and pieces from the other bottles. "I think it's more of an acquired taste."

Liela handed me a bowl of new soup. I hate to say I was suspicious, especially now when I know how good of a cook Liela is.

Aaron, Liela, and I ate something that did not taste like rubber and I was amazed that my taste buds still lived. Well actually I was amazed that nothing bad had happened. This was the second time in a week where my friends and I had been able to sit in a tense calm because Itex had not reared its ugly, mutant, genetically enhanced head to try and catch us. I was sure it would not last long. After all nothing decent did.

That included Liela's food. I swear it was gone faster then I could fly with super speed.

"Oh that was good." Aaron groaned as he lay down to sleep. "I'm stuffed. I don't think I'll ever eat again."

I laughed. "Yeah right, you'll be hungry again in an hour."

But in an hour he was fast asleep so it did not matter. I was on watch first that night, so I sat and listened for trouble as my friends slept.

It must have been almost midnight when Liela woke up. She tossed and turned for a little while before finally giving up and coming to sit by me on the grass.

"Can't sleep?" I asked not expecting an answer. To my surprise I kind of got one. Granted it was more of a grunt of pain than words, but still.

I looked over at her and saw her face was white and damp from sweat. She was rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her torso.

"Are you okay? I asked putting a hand on her shoulder to turn her to face me and she nearly screamed. "Oh," I said in understanding. Went to fin the special bird-girl pain killers that Grandma had made sure to put in my backpack. "Here." I said making sure to stick the bluish pills right under her nose so she was sure to see them. She grabbed them with a shaky hand and stuffed them into her mouth as quickly as she could. I moved to take the jacket off that Cal had given her and she shrieked again.

"I'm just going to look at your wings." I said, but she did not seem to realize what I was saying. "Your wings." I said again. I spread my own feathers far enough for her to see and then pointed at her back. After that she tried to take the jacket off herself, but only ended up hurting herself, so I helped in the end.

Grandma had already warned me that Liela's wings were going to grow amazingly fast, which was why they felt like someone had stuck a screwdriver between her shoulders and tried to cut some pretty picture in her back.

Fortunately for me Liela's back did not look like someone had stabbed her with a blunt pointed object, otherwise I think I may have thrown up whatever was left of dinner. Instead, it looked like a pillow had exploded in her back. Already her wings were about four feet across. They were tiny compared to the fourteen foot wingspan she would have soon. What feathers she had shaded from the gray-white that most chicks have when they're young to a brownish gold that was the same color as her hair.

"You're going to have pretty wings Liela." I told her even though she did not know what I was saying. But then again, I do no think that I would have said it if she could.

Liela smiled at me like she knew what I said anyway as Grandma's pills began to kick in. I handed her a paper napkin I had stuffed in my pocket the last time I had actually been in 'civilization' so she could dry her eyes.

"So you really can't understand me?" I asked just to be sure even though she had not really said a word of English that Aaron or I had not said first over the past three days. "You're not playing some kid of joke?" She smiled again and I noticed that some of the pain had left her features. "In that case," I said when she did not say anything. "I'm going to tell you something important, but you can't tell Aaron." She stared at me after hearing Aaron's name and pointed to where he was sleeping.

"No," I said and held my finger to my lips like I was telling her to be quiet. She put her hands in her lap and watched me.

"I don't think Rebecca's alive." I told her keeping my voice low in case Aaron really was awake. "I think if she was she would have escaped or been rescued by now. Plus, we haven't heard anything about her in three years." I slumped forward, my head suddenly filled with gruesome images of experiments, alive or not, and the horrible creatures that had made them.

"I mean," I said jerking myself up. "If my parents couldn't survive the School, then how is a six year old supposed to?"

"Parents?" Liela asked uncertainly, probably remembering our earlier conversation about family.

I nodded. "Yeah, my mom and dad were part of the first Flock. They were the oldest out of the six, so they were the leaders. The other four, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were kind of my aunts and uncles. Iggy is actually Will's dad, which is part of the reason we say we're cousins. Of course, Ella was my mom's half-sister, so we really are related."

"Was heissen sie?" Liela suddenly asked. I looked at her funny and she pointed to herself. "Ich heisse Liela." Then she pointed at me. "Du heisst Charlie. Was heissen deine Mutti und Vati?"

I put my super brain to work and finally guessed she was asking for their names. "My mom's name was Max, Maximum Ride," I said emphasizing her name. "And my dad's name was Fang."

"Max," She said drawing out the 'a'. "Und Fang." She smiled all of a sudden. "Und dann Cal und Charlie."

"Yes," I said. "But don't talk about Cal too much okay? The School still doesn't know that she's my sister just like they don't know that Will is Iggy's son. All the experimentation on the general public has made it easier for Cal and Will to hide as everyday mutant but if the School ever finds out that they aren't then they will capture them so fast that it wouldn't be funny. Actually it wouldn't be funny anyway because the sickos would turn them into genetic fodder. They would take them apart understand?" Liela shook her head. "Do not talk," I said slowly as I mimed the words. "About Cal or Will. It is dangerous."

I think she got the gist as a terrified look entered her blue eyes and she said something way to fast for me to even try and understand.

"Good." I said anyway. "Now you should probably go back to sleep." She yawned as I spoke. We both stood and walked over to the spot where our fire had been. I woke Aaron for his turn as watch rabbit and then climbed a short sturdy tree so I could sleep on one of its thick branches.

"Guten nacht Charlie." Liela called up to me from the ground.

"Good night Liela." I said actually glad that I had told someone about my fears for Rebecca.

"Good ni-ight." Aaron called from his place in a tone that implied he thought Liela and I were going to start kissing or something.

"Guten nacht Aaron." Liela said, already half asleep, not noticing the mischief in Aaron's voice.

I heard him snicker to himself. "Charlie and Liela sittin' in a tree, K - I - S - S - I - N - "

"Shut up." I said and threw something at him. Liela giggled in her sleep as I missed. It was not long before I was out too.

The next morning, we were all tangled up in nets.


	8. Chapter 7: The Cages

So someone pointed out that I had put Aaron and Liela instead of Charlie and Liela when Aaron was singing the kissing song. So in case you didn't see, I fixed that and now you know what it was supposed to say too. Please don't let the length of this chapter intimidate you, they're captured so there's quite a bit to fit in.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Seven: The Cages

Charlie

Well if this was not a "oh shoot" situation then I do not know what is.

Someone pulled on the rope attached to my net, dragging me to the ground. I landed with a solid thump which stunned me and knocked me breathless.

When I was able to breathe again, I saw that both Aaron and Liela were wrapped in tangled webs next to me. Liela, who was in between Aaron and I, looked terrified and I remembered that she had never been to a School before. She did not know what horrible things the Whitecoats could do, so her imagination ran rampant with even worse rumors and talk she had probably heard in the city.

"Charlie," She whined as her fingers clutched the netting.

"Quiet." A Flyboy said in its unemotional voice as it kicked her hard in the middle of her back with a steel foot. She screamed in pain and I guessed that part of it was because her new wings had just snapped in half.

I looked over at Aaron and saw he looked just as worried about our new friend as I was. Liela whimpered and cried, but did not say anything else. Apparently the Flyboy still thought she was being too noisy because it was about to kick her again when one of the Whitecoats watching told him to stop. The Flyboy instantly froze as only a machine can and the Whitecoat who had spoken knelt down next to Liela. He prodded the spot in between her shoulder blades where blood was discoloring her shirt non to gently in my opinion. Liela held back a shriek but could not stop the shudders that shook her body.

The Whitecoat did not seem to notice or care. He was more interested in her half grown wings and the lack of scars that were usually left after living with a bunch of overly curious scientists and doctors. I saw he was especially surprised to see that both her wrists were free of the hairline scars that meant she had been tagged with one of the small chips that could be used to track us or kill us depending on the Director's mood.

"Great," I thought grimly. "Batchelder didn't give her a chip but he didn't give her a scar to fool the others either. Idiot." I myself had the thin scar but no chip thanks to Grandma. She had been nice enough to take it out after the losers put it in. Aaron was not so lucky; because of his shape shifting abilities, the Whitecoats had had to put his somewhere in or near his brain. Not even Grandma was brave enough to try and remove it, especially since there was no way she knew of that would not leave Aaron as either a vegetable or a corpse.

The Whitecoat inspecting Liela snapped his fingers and his Whitecoat-in-waiting dropped down beside him. Okay, really he was some kind of aid but that's no fun to say is it?

"Sir?" The Whitecoat-in-waiting asked.

The older man did not look up as he spoke. "I want you to tell the Director that we've found the two that escaped from the Colorado Institution as well as an unidentified avian-hybrid."

The younger man nodded and I suddenly got a bad feeling about what this message meant.

"Would you like me to ask if we have permission to retire it sir?"

Oh how I hate that word. It. Not she, it.

I stayed very still, trying to ignore the anger that was starting to simmer somewhere in my stomach. I was not surprised that they were thinking about killing Liela. I hated it, but it did not surprise me. The School's were always so afraid that nay experiments that they did not create were either made to destroy them (which is sometimes true) or that they will end up joining with the rebellion and try to destroy them then (which is also true).

Given Itex's fear of destruction by mutants not their own, the commanding Whitecoat's answer surprised me.

"No," He said standing up. "If the Director orders it then we will follow her orders, but I wouldn't bring up the subject if I could help it. This one seems to be different from the hybrids we've made before and I for one would like to know how she can be so healthy when they added the avian DNA so late."

I sighed in relief. She would live for awhile at least. But that gave us all a chance to escape from the School in one living piece.

"What about the other two sir?"

Well I hoped it gave us all a chance to get out alive.

* * *

"Hey Charlie?"

"What Liela?"

"It's my turn to write. Give me the notebook."

"What? No. I haven't written enough for a chapter and I just got to the part where the Whitecoat's first captured you, Aaron, and me."

"I know that's why I want to write. You two got stuck in a couple of cages while they did things to me. So it's only fair that since they did things to me then I get to write about it."

"I thought you didn't remember half of it."

"Well, no, but I remember enough to write. And besides, I was saved first. Now come on and give me the book. Please?"

"Ohh, don't look at me like that Liela. Fine, here you-hey, where'd the book go?"

"Mouse, what are you doing?"

"I'm writing out your argument so the readers know that you switched writers and why."

"Oh, well let me see the book so I can write about what happened to us in the School."

"Okay Liela, here you are."

* * *

Liela

I was terrified as they dragged the three of us into a small entrance room. My back felt like it was being pulled across a bed of burning thorns instead of the cool metal floor I saw. I nearly sobbed in relief when the metal wolf-men who had been pulling me dropped the cord and halted. I was able to pick up a few words from the older man who seemed to be in charge, but I was to hurt to try and comprehend what he was saying.

I was able to figure out what he said anyway as the metal guard suddenly hauled me out of my net and shoved me into an unpainted metal barred crate with a piece of flat plastic on the bottom. I was dimly aware of movement and another cage ahead of me as they pushed us further into the building.

I focused my eyes enough to see Aaron staring worriedly back at me and Charlie doing the same just beyond him. I saw Aaron's mouth forming words I _should_ have understood from my time with the Clutter's, but it was too much to try and translate.

Charlie said something to Aaron and they both started to say something in what I barely recognized as German. I tried to drag myself back from the edge of unconsciousness to understand what they were yelling at me.

"Ich bin ein Berliner Liela."

I laughed pretty sure they did not know what that really meant. I'm not sure why they were screaming it either. Maybe they were trying to get me to stay awake? I don't know but it made me laugh as the Whitecoat's pushed us through the antiseptic smelling halls. I do not think Charlie and Aaron were expecting that because they stared first at me and then at each other in confusion.

I stopped laughing when the guy pushing me suddenly wheeled me through a door to the side. Charlie and Aaron were still heading straight. Despite my ignorance I knew that was not good.

"Charlie!" I screamed trying to rattle my cage to pieces. "Aaron!"

The guard kicked my cage and I flew back as far as the confined space allowed, knocking by already fogged head against the rusty bars, making everything finally go black.

* * *

"Nice Liela, your lack of consciousness has me riveted."

"Shut up Ricky and give me the book back."

"I don't have it."

"Mouse!"

"'Giggle' It's funny how you all said that at the same time."

"Anyway…"

* * *

Still Liela

The next time I woke up, I was alone in my crate, unable to stand or do anything else for that matter seeing as how small the box was and how woozy I was. I noticed that my back had stopped throbbing in pain, but it still burned when I moved.

Despite my new back problems, it was the small almost insignificant pain in my wrist that had a clean pristine bandage covered my hand to the middle of my forearm. It was almost funny really, to see something so white and perfect on my dirty bloodied body in what I instinctively realized was Hell on Earth.

I think I must have laughed because a young woman wearing a white doctor's coat carrying a clipboard with a pen and a bunch of charts and papers walked smartly over to my cage, her high heeled shoes making an annoying clacking noise against the tile floor.

"It's awake." She told someone off to the side that I could not see. "Go tell Dr. Borcht that the experiment they brought in the other day is fully awake." She had a clear no nonsense voice that was sharp and clear. That plus the dulling pain made it possible for me to understand what she was saying. Sadly I recognized the name ter Borcht and the fact that he was coming to see me only terrified me more.

Fortunately for me, in some strange twisted way, the young woman gave me a needle full of…something before he got there that nearly knocked me out again, so I do not remember that first meeting with the 'evil scientist'. I do not know why they kept me so sedated, but I thing they took me out of the cage which may have explained why they wanted a limp little girl instead of fully awake one. Now I do remember quite a few other meetings with ter Borcht in vivid detail, but that first one was only a blur of color and outlines as first they talked and then after they took me out, I'm sure they did now, wheeled me down the hall past numerous doors until finally someone banged my cage into an empty place along the wall in a room full of cages identical to mine.

It took me a moment to realize that I was not alone either.

"Liela?" Someone whispered next to me. "Liela! Charlie its Liela!"  
My head felt like a lead weight for some reason and it took more effort then I thought to tilt my head back from my upside down spot in my cage. On the other side of the room there were more cages lining the wall. "Hallo Aaron." I said my words slurring together as I recognized the only person I could see. Aaron peered anxiously in between the squares the intersecting bars made, his face pressed as close as he could get it. I thought for sure he would have little squares on his face from the bars.

"Wo ist Charlie?" I asked my words a little clearer then before as the whatever-it-was the lady had given me started to wear off.

"I'm over here." Charlie said from my right. I looked over, my head not quite so heavy now, to see Charlie stuffed into a cage too. I waved at him still a little delirious I guess because I do not really wave that much.

Charlie and Aaron freaked out when they saw the bandage on my arm. They both started talking at once, miming something frantically. I finally figured out that they wanted me to unwrap the thing and I did so as quick as possible, some of there urgency wearing off on me. When they saw the scar I think they both nearly had a heart attack.

A door opened somewhere down the hall, sending metallic echoes down the hallway, startling us. I rewrapped the bandage around my arm, not wanting to get in trouble for anything as stupid as that.

The young woman from before clacked her way towards us. She peered down at me and then wrote something down on that clipboard of hers. She did the same thing for Aaron and Charlie and then she motioned for two men in scrubs that had followed her.

"I want these two." She said pointing to Charlie and me.

"Yes ma'am." One of the two men said as he and his partner lifted my cage and set it down sharply on the steel cart they had brought with them. My poor back banged against the bottom of the cage reviving the pain instantly. A moment later, Charlie joined me.

"Apparently these people have never heard of recovery time," I thought to myself as the two men in gray wheeled us out of the cage room. Not that I really needed to recover from such a tiny cut, but it was either that a more surgery. Guess which one I got.

* * *

So when I woke up from surgery, again, I was in a metal room strapped to a metal bed wearing, you guessed it, those cloth nightgowns that do not really close. Ha, had you going did not I? Anyway, I was stuck to a metal slab in my nightgown and underwear (I still thank my God in heaven that they had left me _those_). I jerked at one of the wrist straps, but the Velcro strips did not give. I pulled again and heard a nice ripping sound. I pulled again and the strap felt noticeably looser and the wretched thing finally broke.

The sound of a lock from an outer door got my attention and I went still wondering what kind of punishment these people would give me if they found I was trying to escape.

I decided I did not want to meet them and find out. I reached over with my free hand and pulled at the other wrist strap. I had never realized until that moment how difficult large slabs of Velcro could be. Wasn't Velcro supposed to be easier to deal with?

Well mine was not. I yanked and pulled afraid that the intern or aid or whoever-it-was was close by, but the stupid thing would not give. I looked up and saw in horror that the door in front of me was starting to swing open. I panicked and pulled even harder at the straps hoping to get my other arm or a foot free. I did not look up as the person shut the door behind them after wheeling something in after him. I must have been about to scream because a strong hand clamped down on my mouth, cutting off the small squeak I had managed to get out.

"Liela, stop it's just me." A semi familiar voice said and I looked up in surprise.

Taylor stared back at me uneasily, probably afraid I might try to scream again and give him away. I closed my mouth and he slowly removed his hand.

"Do you remember me? Are you okay?" He asked nervously.

I nodded slowly so as not to aggravate the headache which seemed to have stayed with me throughout the surgery. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said then clapped my hand over my mouth in shock as I realized I had been speaking English. I may understand most English but I speak very little and I had not heard those words before so how could I speak them?

Taylor did not seem too shocked. "You speak English now. That was fast. Come on then, let's get you out of here."

"Taylor," I said my voice breaking as he quickly undid the straps tying me to the table. "Taylor, I don't speak English. I can understand it, but I can't-"

Taylor held up a hand to stop me as that outer door squeaked opened again. Someone else had come to check on me and I had a good feeling that first of all Taylor was not supposed to be there and secondly I was supposed to be sleeping tied to a very uncomfortable metal table.

Taylor mumbled something that I will not repeat. He grabbed me and shoved me close to the wall where the open door would hide me from view. "Stay here." He ordered quietly and then darted to the other side of the room where he pretended to busy himself with putting supplies on the cart he had brought with him.

That annoying clacking noise let me know who was there without having to see her. I pressed myself to the wall and nearly stopped breathing as the woman from earlier stopped in the open door way.

"Where is the experiment?" She asked sounding outraged and suspicious at the same time.

Taylor looked behind him at what I guessed was his superior. "I don't know Ma'am." He said. "It was not here when I got here."

"How long ago was that?" The woman asked.

Taylor shrugged. "About fifteen, twenty minutes ago. I think I heard someone running the other way when I came in though. Towards room C10."

The woman turned around so fast that her coat made a sharp 'shwip' sound and her heels clacked furiously against the floor as she sped away. Taylor waited a few minutes, calming stacking plastic wrapped supplies onto his cart. After about five minutes he turned around, walked toward the door and closed it.

"Get in the cart." He instructed opening the small door to the lower half of the cart and motioned for me to get inside. I did, curling up so that my knees touched my chin and wrapped my arms around my legs to pull them tighter. Taylor looked in at me and then closed the door. Then he wheeled it towards the door, opened it and walked outside.

I struggled to keep my breath even as the small dark space started to creep me out. It felt like the dark was a piece of fabric that was slowly suffocating me and I tried to remind myself that the dark was the dark, not cloth. I could breathe. I could breathe. I might panic anyway but I could still breathe.

We suddenly stopped and I was not sure if I was about to hyperventilate or stop breathing all together. Whichever I did, I did it quietly and listened as a new voice drifted through the metal walls of the cart.

"Hey janitor, where are you going with all those?"

"Who me? I'm taking these to Doctor Gray." I heard Taylor say to the new person. "He's over in his office, just down the hall if you want to check." Taylor offered.

I heard some shoe steps go ahead of us and I guessed that the man had taken Taylor up on his offer. Taylor wheeled the cart after him at a slower pace and reached what I guessed was Dr. Gray's office because I heard the man who had stopped us earlier say, "Sorry, my mistake Dr. Gray." Then he left and Taylor stopped again.

"I have those things you wanted Dr. Gray." He said taking some of the supplies on the top and putting them in Dr. Gray's office. The doctor thanked Taylor and then told him to close the door behind him as he left.

He wheeled the cart down the hall, took a left and stopped inside a room. It was the longest two minutes of my life sitting there in the dark crawling down the hall, but eventually a door opened, a door closed, and Taylor let me out of the box.

I banged my knees trying to get out there as fast as I could. I curled my legs up and rested my forehead on my knees trying to regain control of my breathing. Mercifully, Taylor did not say anything or try to touch me. I think I would have lost it right then and there.

Eventually I lifted my head and looked around me. Taylor and I were in a small wire filled room with several TV screens on the far wall. They showed large pictures of rooms flashing to different pictures of rooms, some with operating tables, some with desks, some with poor mixed up creatures sitting curled up in there cages.

"Charlie! Aaron!" I cried when I saw there faces enlarged on the middle screen. Taylor looked up from whatever it was he was doing and saw his brother-in-law and his friend on screen.

"Don't worry," He told me. "I'm going to get them in a minute. They'll have to open the cages themselves, but that won't be a problem for them. Just watch." He said clicking a button so that the room with the boys stayed on screen. I watched as Aaron and Charlie waited, presumably for some signal that meant this would not be caught on tape. A brief flicker of static crossed the screen. "That means that this camera is the only one working right now." Taylor explained. "All of the other cameras have mysteriously switched to static." He said happily his eyebrows going up and down in amusement.

Apparently Charlie and Aaron knew what happened because Charlie pushed up on the top of his cage lifting it up to show that the bottom was not attached to the rest of the crate. He threw the main part of the cage onto the floor and jumped to the ground to let Aaron out. The rabbit kid waved at the camera making me laugh as Charlie smiled up at the screen and then grabbed Aaron and ran.

I looked behind me to tell Taylor that they were out, but he was already gone. I looked around the cluttered room but no one else was there.

"Taylor?" I asked. "Taylor?"

Movement caught my attention and I looked back up at the TV. Taylor leisurely pushed his janitor cart down a hall on another screen. He passed nurses and doctors who pretended not to notice him as he walked past. Meanwhile, Aaron and Charlie scampered and hid avoiding the same nurses and doctors until they finally met Taylor. I did not see him stop, but I guessed the boys had gotten inside because he looped around pretending to finish his errand and started to come back here.

He made it back safely and as soon as the door was closed behind him, Charlie and Aaron spilled out of the cart.

"Good gracious Aaron you could have gotten your foot out of my mouth a little sooner. Gross." Charlie said spitting on the floor. Aaron changed out of his furrier form and ignored Charlie.

"Well that was fairly easy." He said with his usual smile.

"Yeah, meaning you should go while it's still just as easy." Taylor said opening a door hidden behind the multi-colored wires hanging along the wall. "So hurry up and move."

"Hold on a minute," Charlie ordered and Aaron and I stopped moving. "They put a tag on Liela and if we leave now they'll either detonate it or just follow us through that. You've got to take it out first before we go anywhere." He told Taylor. I admit that I stopped listening at that point, my mind was stuck on the word detonate right then.

"Now?" Taylor asked incredulously. "We don't have time right now. You have to leave. If they find this place they'll put two and two together and figure out that I let you out. Then not only will I get in trouble but so will Cal and your family."

Charlie thought about that and I took advantage of his momentary quiet.

"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked my voice high pitched because of my fright. I swear Charlie and Aaron looked at me like I had grown another head, or learned a new language in two hours, but that's beside the point.

"She speaks!" Aaron cried throwing up his hands. "English!"

"How long have you been able to do that Liela?" Charlie asked suspiciously.

I thought about it. "About thirty minutes, now what's this about an explosive in me?" I noticed in horror that my accent was completely gone, but pushed it aside at the thought of boom.

"That's what they put in your arm." Charlie explained pointing to the bandage. "It's a tracking device as well so we've got to get it out before we go anywhere." He turned back on Taylor who was staring stubbornly down at Charlie with a 'heck no' look on his face.

"No." He said.

"But Tay-"

"NO."

"Please?" I cut in starting to panic. "I don't want to explode." I said pitifully as tears started to leak out of my eyes. Traitors I thought. I had not cried since my parents died. I guess my own death was having the same effect as theirs.

Taylor held that stubborn look for another second before it crashed and he sighed. "Fine," He said hotly pointing to another partially hidden door. "Get in there. Aaron, I'm going to need you to go snatch some more bandages from the supply room. You're going to need some on your trip."

* * *

There you have it. Things are going to be a little more adventurous in the next chapter if I can write my thoughts right. Hey tell me what you thought of the narrator switches. Did they make sense? Could you understand what happened. I personally liked how it came off but that won't matter if no one understood it.

I would like to order a pile of reviews please! No one commented or reviewed at all for the last chapter which made me sad. Tell me what you think! I would like to know.


	9. Chapter 8: I Am a Jelly Donut

After Armageddon

Chapter Eight: I am a Jelly Donut

Charlie

Fifteen minutes later Liela was lying down on a skinny hospital bed that Taylor had for emergencies. Her right hand was strapped down so she would not move it while Taylor was cutting her wrist with an over sized knife because, you know, if she did he could very well take her arm off.

Okay, so that really was not possible, but in case you have not noticed, I DO NOT like knives or surgery of any kind. You could say I was traumatized as a kid.

Liela looked a little more than nervous as Taylor filled a syringe with something that would numb her arm as well as make her a little loopy. She looked so freaked out that, for some reason that I still do not entirely understand, I went over and held her hand.

She looked grateful more then anything and she clung to my hand tighter as Taylor gave her the anesthesia. Now I know I have told you before that Taylor and I just do not get along. He thinks I am a bossy know it all and I think he's rude and obnoxious. However despite our issues with each other, I have to admit that he is a good doctor. He's been to some of the best schools, the normal ones that is, there are and he knows a lot about how the Director and Whitecoats think and act, which is useful. His parents both work high in the government, almost directly under the Dictator herself. Taylor's mom actually _allowed_ them to turn Taylor into a non-winged bird man.

So given this lovely family history you may ask yourself why I trust him at all. Well as it turns out, he's the main reason why Aaron and I were able to escape that first time when we were five years old. Because of his powerful parentage, Taylor was able to wander through the nicer parts of the Schools since he was young. Well eventually he found a not so nice part where Aaron and I had been chucked until someone decided we could be useful. Fortunately for us, Taylor still had some morals at twelve years old and he let us out. Because he was so young, not to mention so clumsy, he was able to convince his parents that it was just an accident. I do not think he has told them about the whole I-think-the-Director-is-evil thing. In fact I think Mr. and Mrs. Rolauf think Taylor is still with his fiance, Calina, planning their wedding.

Liela suddenly giggled and I realized that the loopiness had set in. Her grip on my hand had relaxed so that it felt like I was holding a limp noodle. She giggled again as Taylor started working on her arm.

"You're funny Charlie." She said her voice thick as if she had just woken up. I stared at her in shock having forgotten for a moment that she spoke English now.

"Funny?" I asked. "How am I funny?"

She laughed again. "You were saying ich bin ein Berliner." (1) She kept giggling to herself.

I did not get it. "How is saying I am a Berliner funny?"

Liela only laughed harder. "That 'snot what it means," She said her words starting to slur together. "It means I am a jelly donut."

I was not quite sure what to say to that. "So Kennedy called himself a jelly filled doughy breakfast thing?"

Liela nodded as best as she could tied to a metal table, laughing almost hysterically now.

I waited for her to calm down. Taylor ignored us completely concentrating on the explosive in Liela's arm.

"Hey Liela," I said once her laughter had died down a little. "Why do you think you speak English now?"

She stopped laughing almost instantly. "I donno," She said her words blending together badly. "When they putme to sleep, Is poke German an whenI wokeup, I spoke English." She said quickly and I noticed that she was starting to cry.

"No," I said hating it when anyone cries. "No, don't cry, Please stop, it'll be alright. It's just words, don't worry."

She sobbed. "S'not just th' words," She said. "S'th kidnapping an the pain an th' mean people that keep tryin' to cut me up." Her tears splattered against the table. "I lost m'whole language. I don' remember any ofit." She said sobbing again. "I don' e'en have my accen' anymore."

Now she really was crying instead of just tearing up. I looked up to see how far Taylor was from being done. I watched as he pulled out a tiny black square about as big as my thumbnail. He gently placed it in a silver tray, probably praying it suddenly did not decide to go kablooie. "I'm almost done." He told me not looking up.

Great, I just had to distract her for a few more minutes. I could do that.

"You want to know what makes up for all that?" I asked her as I wiped her face with a towel from the table behind me.

"What?" She asked miserably.

"Flying."

The look on her face said she almost believed me. I kept talking. "I promise it'll be the best feeling you'll ever know and as soon as your wings are grown, I'll teach you how to fly."

"You will?"

I nodded. "Yes because I certainly can't let Aaron do it. He's a terrible flying instructor."

That got her to laugh. "I'll hold you to that promise Charlie." She sounded drowsy, like she was either just waking up or dropping off.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to fly in another day or two." Taylor said. "Your wings are growing incredibly fast Liela. You might even be able to start practicing now, with your wings as big as they are, even if you're only airborne for a little while." He snipped something and started rewrapping her arm. "I'm done." He announced. He quickly untied the restraints keeping her arm on the table and the two of us helped her to sit up.

"Give her a few minutes and she'll be back to normal." He said before taking my bag from the floor and stuffing a couple of pill bottles and the bandages Aaron had just walked in with.

"So what did I miss?" He asked changing back into that oh so childish human self of his.

"Not much." I told him steadying a still wobbly Liela.

A loud siren suddenly started wailing and a flashing light covered everything in red, kind of like those military movies you see where they have to go to dep con seven or whatever because of aliens.

Taylor swore and zipped my bag up before throwing it over the table at me. He hauled Liela up on her feet shoved us all toward the door.

"That's the alarm. They'll be looking for you and I would not be surprised if they found this place so you three have to leave _now_." We were almost to the door when we heard a loud bang from just outside. I stopped so fast that Liela ran into me.

"Oh goody," Aaron said. "I got here just in time."

There was another bang as someone threw themselves against the door trying to break it down. Taylor swore again, realizing that if something did not change soon, he was going to be caught. The Director would probably put two and two together and figure out that he was really working for the Phoenix. Once she found out all of his dirty little secrets she would probably find my family as well which meant she would finally realize that Cal was the daughter of Maximum and Fang Ride and that the rest of my family was just as embroiled in the rebellion as I was.

I spied some rope handing on a chair for one reason or another. "Hey Aaron, grab that will you?" I told him.

"Sit down." I ordered Taylor shoving him into a chair. He opened his mouth to argue but another bang silenced him. Aaron started wrapping the rope around my soon to be brother-in-law and I quickly started to help him.

"I've always wanted to do this." I told him smiling despite the danger.

Our visitors slammed into the door again and this time splinters flew off in all directions. There was a nasty cracking noise that made Liela scream. The door was going to snap soon if that crack was any sign I thought to myself as I wound the rope around Taylor.

"Who is it?" Aaron called as he blindfolded and gagged Taylor. I tied the last knot tight for good measure, that and because I wanted to, then I grabbed my backpack and took hold of Liela's hand. She seemed to be well enough to walk a straight line and she followed me quickly, Aaron right behind her as we went through the door Taylor had tried to force us through earlier.

I slammed the door closed behind me, Aaron taking the lead with Liela still in the between us. There was not a room beyond the door, just a skinny winding tunnel that, hopefully, led to the outside. We ran as fast as we could away from the wire room and the Flyboys and Whitecoats that were trying to break the door down. Our shoes sent echoes down the hall, hurting our over sensitive ears.

An even louder noise told us that the intruders had finally busted down the first door and had decided to take a crack at the one I had closed just moments before. Naturally the door lost the fight and the echoes around us grew louder as more people began to chase us down the restricting corridor. I chanced a look behind me and saw that a mob of Flyboys were charging furiously after us.

I quickly looked forward again. "Go faster!" I yelled knowing that they would catch us soon if we did not get out of this tight space. The walls were far too close for me to fly and Liela and Aaron were too heavy combined so I could not carry them, which would let us go faster then running on our own six feet.

"Look!" Liela shouted pointing ahead of us at the tiny square of light that was swiftly growing larger as we ran.

"Get outside!" I yelled not needing to look back to know that the Flyboys were only a wings length behind us and still gaining. Aaron put on an extra bust of speed and Liela struggled to keep up. The three of us flew, not literally, out of the window-like opening a few second sooner then the Flyboys. It was just enough time for Aaron and me to reorient ourselves and get ready to face the Flyboys. I made sure Liela was behind us, but I did not have time for anything else as the metal Erasers leapt out of the hole, silver claws ready to rip us apart.

Unfortunately, I have a very low tolerance for pain and I had already used up my quota of the day by this point, so I dodged the robot's attack. I threw my hand upward in a punch that hit the Flyboy right under his chin, knocking his head back and snapping a few of his internal wires. He fell back, crashing into two others on his way down. Another one flew at me from the side and I ducked letting him fly head first into the tree on the far side and watched for a brief moment as fireworks exploded out of his back. Then I noticed the Flyboy that was trying to corner Liela. I knocked him over the head to get his attention as Liela shook from head to toe with her back against a tree. The tin can stood up quicker then I thought he would and he punched me in the stomach. I lost my breath and doubled over in pain unable to breathe. I remember seeing pretty multi-colored stars that kept changing colors like something you would see on TV. It was only when my lungs started to burn that I remembered to breathe in. As soon as I did the stars disappeared and I saw the Flyboy who had hit me reach out and grab me by the collar of my shirt. He lifted me high enough that my feet dangled an inch or two above the ground. I was still too dazed to try and do something myself and I saw Aaron was too busy fighting off three other Flyboys all on his own, so he could not help me.

Unfortunately for me that meant Liela was the only one who could save me if I did not do something myself. I kicked the Flyboy hard in the stomach but almost broke my foot on his metal exterior, which completely defeated the point of kicking him since _I_ was the one that got hurt. Really the only response the Flyboy had was to move his hands from my collar to my neck.

Joy. I was going to die unless Liela did something.

I caught sight of Leila's stark white terrified face as she backed up, away from the Flyboy.

Okay scratch off any help from her, I'm dead.

Two fright filled seconds later, something big whacked into the Flyboy holding me and I dropped to the ground with a thump. I sat gasping and coughing trying to remember how to breathe. When the black spots finally faded from my eyes, I saw with absolute shock that Liela was standing over me still looking terrified but armed with a sturdy tree branch that had been knocked to the ground by the Flyboy that had ran into the tree.

Aaron suddenly appeared next to, having disentangled himself from the mob of Flyboys that had pinned him into a corner earlier.

"Come on!" He said urgently shoving me forward and grabbing Liela's wrist to drag her after him. It did not take her long to figure out how to run again. The three of us ran pell-mell through the woods that concealed the School, dodging trees and jumping over bushes. Crashes behind us told me that the Flyboys were quickly following us.

"We can't outrun them!" I shouted wishing with all my birdie heart that Liela could fly. It was easier to deal with Flyboys when they were trying to divide their attention between flying decently and chasing a quickly moving object.

Aaron smiled at me mischievously, making me wonder what the heck he had done to our robotic friends. "Ah don't worry about that too much." He told me, only increasing my suspicion. "Just put as much distance between us and them."

I pushed myself to go faster. Rabbit-boy had no problem going faster but Liela was starting to fall behind us. "Don't leave me behind!" She screamed, terrified of going back to the School even though she had probably only been there for two or three days.

She did not have to worry about being left behind for long.

The three of us skidded to a halt as a deep awning chasm suddenly appeared before us. I looked over my shoulder afraid that it would not take too long for our pursuers to catch up. We could not jump, especially since Liela would just fall right to the bottom of the cliff side that enclosed the gorge. I would not have enough time to catch both her and Aaron, much less carry their combined weight.

"Jump!" Aaron yelled and then hurled himself into the air.

It was nice to know we were thinking the same thing.

"Spread your wings as far as they will go and try to keep them out as long as you can." I quickly ordered Liela. I saw her nod and then followed Aaron off the side of the steep rock wall.

Quickly I unfurled my own wings and then dove to catch Aaron who was currently a little white puffball falling to his doom. Then I soared back up, ready to try and do the same for Liela.

I was surprised to see that she only hesitated a second before leaping off the cliff. Most girls who had just been shoved into this kind of situation would have stood there stupidly and gotten caught. Liela however seemed to be more trusting than those other girls and she jumped with her arms out above her head like Superman.

She thrust out her wings just a little too quickly, snapping them out to her sides to try and catch the air that would buoy her up in the air.

It might have worked, but a loud fiery blast suddenly exploded outward, its hot air disrupting her already fragile flight pattern. She scrambled to throw her wings out again, but she did not know how.

So she plummeted.

I knew it was hopeless since I could not carry both her and Aaron, but I dove after her anyway.

"What the heck did you do?!" I screamed at Aaron over the roar of the wind in my ear.

"I used her chip to blow up the bad guys!" He screamed back. "Gotta problem with that?!"

"Why yes!" I told him catching sight of Liela through the wispy cloud layer. "Yes I do!"

"Just slow her down and get her to glide down!" Aaron suggested by screaming in my ear.

"That's what I had her doing _before_ you knocked her out of the air with your toy!" I was frustrated not only with the fact that one of my friends was falling to her death, but that I could not seem to catch up with her.

Suddenly there she was not a foot away from me screaming and crying with freight. I grabbed her hand before she got away and pulled her up so that she was parallel to the ground.

"Spread your wings!" I told her.

"We already tried that!" She yelled back at me.

I was too freaked out to roll my eyes. "Well try it again!"

Her wings did not pop out like before.

"NOW!" I screamed.

The shock must have helped. Her smallish wings snapped out to either side of her body and she caught an updraft without meaning to. The force of the wind forced her up, slowing her rapid descent nearly knocking into Aaron and me. I banked to the right and flew beneath her just in case something else happened. I looked up to see how Liela was doing and to my surprise I saw that her look of freaked out fright had turned into a look of wonder and amazement. I saw her mouth move but I could not hear her over the wind.

"Okay," I screamed up at her getting her attention. "Now just try and glide down to the ground like this," I did not flap and instead held my wings out like she did, making only the smallest motions to keep myself up. She copied me and steadily we made our way down to the earth in large looping motions.

Her landing sounded painful but I figured it was better than the crash it could have been. Liela still had that awed expression on her face as she stood up on wobbly legs.

"I flew." She whispered in a quiet, amazed voice.

"Yep," Aaron said resuming his human form and placing a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "You flew. You falled first but you got the basic idea."

I rolled my eyes at his intentional bag grammar. "You flew very well considering your wings are so tiny." I told her walking closer to her and Aaron. "But we should leave before the School decides to send more of its goons after us." I said as I began walking away from the cliff we had just leaped over. Aaron followed, quickly catching up with me while Liela dragged behind still in shock.

I could barely hear her quiet voice as she started to come back to reality. "Oh my goodness," She whispered with a short laugh. "I flew."

* * *

(1) Okay, let me explain the whole ich bin ein Berliner thing. I've already gotten someone telling me it does mean I am a Berliner, but that's not true. Ich bin Berliner means I am a Berliner. Because Kennedy added the ein, he called himself a jelly donut. I forget the mechanics involved that means ein equals donut but my German teacher told us every year when we had our ich bin ein Berliner breakfast, which consisted of jelly donuts and orange juice, that adding the ein makes it a thing not a person.

I would also like to add that yes, Taylor is Cal's fiance. I got a few questions about him. I guess people didn't remember him as well as I thought they would.


	10. Chapter 9: Three Days: Day 1

After Armageddon

Chapter Nine: Three Days - Day 1

Liela

I swear that nothing beat that first flight feeling, even if I did nearly die. It was beautiful even compared to some of my more graceful flights over the next three years.

Yeah, you heard me, next three years. The main reason we're skipping such a large chunk of time is because, nothing interesting happened. It was same-old same-old. We ate, we slept, we flew, we blew stuff up, we got caught, we escaped: nothing new.

We did not find Rebecca either. And we did not find out any information about her or hear anything at all. I had had hope at first when Aaron told me about her that night before I was captured for the first time, but now I was ready to agree with Charlie: I did not think she was still alive.

It was a sad prospect and neither Charlie nor I have bothered to bring it to Aaron's attention. He adores his little sister and he cannot wait to see her again. He's always bragging about how sweet and kind and cute she is. To top it all off, he has got one tattered old picture of him and her when they were little. Like six and one. Sometimes I call him Maes after Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist because he can be so proud of his sister.

But whether we thought Rebecca was still alive or not, the three of us kept searching for her. Mainly because Charlie (not really wanting to tell his best friend that he thought his sister was dead so he should just give up and lose hope) followed the court's example in this case; Rebecca was alive until proven cold. But I think apart from that, the only reason we kept looking was because, we did not have anything better to do.

Face it. It was not like we could just give up and continue on with our daily lives. This _was_ our daily lives. And I don't know if I liked that, but it was better than sitting around in a supposedly safe place wondering everyday if Itex was finally going to find us. (Although I guess we kind of lived like that anyway.) We all thought it was better to run and fight every chance we got and finding Rebecca just happened to be a goal we could aim for while we did it.

Yeah I know it's strange and doesn't quite make sense, but there was enough sense in it for the three of us, so we kept running and searching.

But then everything changed. And I know that sounds ridiculously corny, but its true. I still remember the day it started. (Which is amazing considering the last time I had seen a calendar was at Mom's house nearly six months ago when Charlie fractured his wrist. Apparently it was not as serious as some of the other stuff we've been through, but let me tell you it was a pain in the patootie having to take care of Charlie's hand and take care of the rest of ourselves while we were running from Flyboys.)

It had seemed so harmless at the time that I did not even realize what had just happened. It was the twentieth of March and the sun was just beginning to fall past the horizon, setting the shadows free as the slim moon rose higher. Three days before my world shattered into a million tiny fragments like a glass vase that someone dropped on the floor.

But I did not know that yet, like I said it had seemed so harmless at first, so as we sat around our measly campfire after our even measlier dinner, we were all laughing at the stupidity of one of Itex's new tries to catch us.

"They're just getting smarter all the time aren't they?" Aaron asked sarcastically next to me.

Charlie scoffed. "Yeah," He said with a laugh as he cleaned up what little leftovers we had. "They're just so sophisticated with their laser eyes and sonic whatevers and their paralyzing thingamajiggers-"

"Too bad they decided to use _nets_ instead." Aaron said and we all three burst into near hysterical laughter again.

"Oh how could they be so stupid?" I asked once I could talk again. "I mean nets? Every genius in the world trying to solve this problem and their answer is _nets_?"

"Hey," Charlie said sounding like he was trying to regain some seriousness and failing. "No one said that geniuses were very bright. They happen to be ridiculously smart, but once they're out of the lab-"

"Their common sense goes bye-bye." Aaron cut in smiling.

We snickered a little longer, but after that things calmed down. I let myself relax against Aaron's shoulder taking in the surrounding noises as I closed my eyes. He wrapped an arm around me and lightly kissed the top of my head. I felt myself smile, but otherwise I did not move as I enjoyed the, temporary, peace.

Okay, I bet I can guess what all of you are thinking right about now. Aaron? You're dating Aaron? Well yes, yes I am. I do admit that in the beginning I really liked Charlie and it seemed as if he kinda liked me. But every time I tried to get closer to him, he freaked out and turned into a statue. This is not good when you're trying to ask someone if they want to go out. So eventually I stopped trying to get closer and he and I have formed a decent (if not strange) sort of friendship. If I still like Charlie beyond that, and I'm not quite sure if I don't to be honest, those feelings are buried beneath tons and tons of whatever else it is that fills my head.

Aaron on the other hand, acted completely different from Charlie. Being his usual open goofy self, he never bothered to try and hide his thoughts. However it was not until earlier this year that I had actually agreed to go on what passed for a date when you were a traveling mutant teenager who was running from the current world rulers.

Charlie dumped our dishes back into someone's backpack with a clatter, ruining the silence. I opened my eyes, not minding too much, and saw that Aaron was scratching at the back of his neck, again.

"Are you alright?" I asked sitting up. He had been picking at his neck since this morning and while this might not have been a big concern in normal world (which I was beginning to think was a myth) to us almost everything was a big concern. Hey, what can I say? We were overly paranoid. It came with the life, like some sort of packaged deal.

"Yeah," Aaron smiled his usual self. "I think a bug bit me is all."

"Wow, some bug bite. You've been itching it all day." Charlie put in.

Aaron just shrugged. "Well isn't that what bug bites do? Itch crazy enough to drive you mad?"

"I guess so," I said getting an uneasy feeling about something, although I was not sure what yet. "But I've never had one itch that bad before, not even when I got chiggers from the stupid little shack."

I blamed Aaron for that one, which is unusual because Charlie is usually responsible for everything.

Aaron snorted. "Chiggers don't count, they don't actually bite you. They just get under your skin and bug you."

Charlie and I groaned. "Oh that was terrible Aaron." Charlie told him.

"Much to pun-ny." I agreed. "And besides, Chiggers have to bite you to get under your skin." The guys groaned. "Hey, at least I didn't plan that one." I told them once I had realized that you could take that last part two ways.

"True, but it was still pretty bad." Aaron told me, smiling to show he was teasing like he usually was.

And with that Aaron had successfully steered the conversation away from bug bites to really bad puns. I have wondered if maybe he already knew what the bite really was. If he did, he never gave anything away. Not even Charlie knew until later. Aaron was so good at smiling that it had become a mask, impervious to either Charlie's or my own scrutiny. So while we may have thought that something _might_ be wrong, neither of us did anything. The three of us just kept on talking as the moon climbed higher until finally one of us, me I think, caved into the natural need for sleep.

* * *

The next day, the three of us picked up our stuff and left, just like every other morning. We were headed toward yet another School (they were everywhere nowadays) that we thought might have some kind of information about Rebecca. Hopefully some tangible evidence that she was actually alive like a file or better yet, her living breathing body.

Aaron was walking slower than usual, so I had slowed down to match his pace. Charlie, who hated doing anything slowly unless it was absolutely necessary, was ahead of us, making sure there was not anything that was not supposed to be there. Flyboys for example or bombs.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked again as I lost sight of Charlie's dark clothes in the greenery, not for the first time I might add. "I really think he's going to leave us behind this time."

Aaron only laughed a short rough sound that I had not heard before. It sounded like he was out of breath. But of course that could not be why; we had run farther and longer that this lots of times and he had never been breathless before.

"Yeah right," Aaron said not noticing, or possibly not caring, what he sounded like. "The day Charlie willingly leaves us or any of his friends is the day I will let anyone call me Bunny Boy."

"If you don't hurry it up that will be today Bunny Boy!" Charlie called back to us sounding impatient, but not _too_ irritated.

"What'd you just call me bird brain?" Aaron called back. I smiled as Aaron sped up. Bunny Boy and bird brain were old insults, ones that no else were allowed to use, not even me.

"You heard me." Charlie said as we caught up to him. He had actually stopped and waited for us. I thought it was strange, but as we kept walking, now at a slower pace, I realized that he was worried too. Aaron was acting strange - alright so Aaron always acted strange but this was different. This was not meant as one of his usual jokes.

We stopped for lunch early. Charlie and I could have kept walking for who knows how long, but Aaron looked like he was ready to drop with exhaustion. Usually we take turns looking for things we need or things that are trying to kill us. It does not always work that way because the other two always are on the watch too and sometimes they will see something that the guard dog missed. Anyway, yesterday had been Charlie's turn as watch dog which meant that technically, it was Aaron's turn today. But since he was so worn out, Charlie took over and went to look for anything eatable that would help make the food we had brought with us last longer.

"Is your neck still bothering you?" I asked when I noticed that Aaron was scratching at his neck again.

He sighed. "Kinda, but," he added much too quickly, "it's not that bad."

"If it's not that bad, then why do you keep messing with it?" I asked standing up so I could see his neck.

He flinched away and covered his neck with his hand. "No, no, no, no, no." He said moving so that he was facing me. "It's fine. It's just a bite. There's no sense in worrying about a bug bite, no matter how annoying it is."

"Then why can't I see it?" I asked with a frustrated sigh.

"Because," He said keeping his hand over his neck. "If I let you see you're only going to worry and fidget and try and to slap some creamy stuff on it that'll only make it burn but not really help."

I gave him a disbelieving look. "Wha-? Oh let me see that." I tried to wrestle his hand away from his neck, but he stubbornly kept it in place. I got behind him so that if I actually got his hand away I could try to get a glimpse of his bug bite. I pulled harder and, slowly, his hand started to come away from his neck. I am afraid I did not see any red bumps, or anything red actually.

All I saw were a bunch of black bars and some numbers.

I instantly let go of Aaron's hand and stumbled back a step. "What? What's the matter?" Aaron was saying as he felt his neck feeling around for something that had not been there before. He kept asking, but I could not find it in me to answer him. In fact the first thing that I managed to get out of my mouth was a scream.

"CHARLIE!"

I do not thing that I have ever seen Charlie move that fast. He came crashing through the forest probably thinking that one of us had died, which I am afraid was not that far from the truth.

"What?!" Charlie and Aaron were both asking. I still could not answer them in any coherent form. I barely remember Charlie trying to get Aaron to explain what happened and Aaron trying to get Charlie to explain what was happening. I do however remember the clear look of horror on Charlie's face when he saw the bars and numbers that I did. I watched as he figured out the same thing I did.

"What?!" Aaron was still clueless. "What the heck is wrong?"

Charlie found his voice first. "You've got a barcode, Aaron." He said so calmly that I knew he had to be going into shock.

"What?" Aaron asked again in complete disbelief.

I heard a sob and realized with alarm that it was coming from me. I tried to make myself stop crying, but I could not.

Because one of my best friends was going to die.


	11. Chapter 10:A Different Kind of Love:Day2

After Armageddon

Chapter Ten: A Different Kind of Love - Day Two

Liela

I could not seem to stop crying.

Neither could Charlie from the looks of it. He kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water Only Aaron seemed able to comprehend what was going on with any sense.

"Huh." He said like one of us had just told him that he had a bug in his hair. Then he stood up and put both of his hands in his jeans pockets. "How's that possible?" He asked calmly cocking his head to one side like he would for any other question. "I thought that those chips were the things that made the barcodes appear."

Charlie nodded dumbly, still in too much shock to try and figure out how this was possible. We had been careful to avoid chips at all costs because usually they led to stuff like this.

"Well," Aaron said picking up his backpack. "Let's go then."

"Go?" Charlie finally forced himself to speak.

Aaron snorted. "Oh come on Charlie. You don't want me to die, at least I hope you don't, and I certainly don't want to die, at least not this way, so let's go see Mom. She'll probably know what's going on at least."

"And if she doesn't?" I squeaked.

Aaron smiled. It seemed weaker than usual. "Than I'll get her to make me that peanut butter pie that she made for your birthday last year. Oh my gosh that thing was awesome."

Charlie and I just stared at him in shock.

"Peanut butter pie?" I heard Charlie ask in disbelief. "That's it? You're going to eat Peanut butter pie and just let that thing kill you?" His anger suddenly overpowered his shock.

Aaron smiled his usual goofy smile. "Well it is peanut butter."

Charlie threw up his hands in exasperation while I sat frozen off to the side. I still was not sure if it was reassuring that even death could not change Aaron's quirky self and his love of peanut butter.

Aaron started jumping up and down like a little kid. "Well come on then let's go."

I saw Charlie grab his backpack and somehow managed to force myself to unfold and grabbed my own.I was still crying I was sure but otherwise my face had stiffened into something unreadable and emotionless.

"Aren't you going to _change_?" I heard Charlie ask Aaron.

The dork just shook his head. "Nope, I want to walk. Actually I want to run. Let's run, yeah? Run, run, run."

"It'll be faster if we fly." Charlie told him probably wondering how badly he wanted to run.

"Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunru-"

"Okay I get the point, you want to run!" He yelled. With a yelp of joy Aaron was gone. Charlie shook his head in some mixture of frustration and disbelief. "Come on Liela." He told me and was about to run after Aaron when he finally noticed that I had not moved after him.

"Liela?"

Charlie's voice brought me out of the numbness that had been slowly creeping through my body. It was all too much. How could Aaron be so…normal? If we did not find a way to stop the barcode and whatever was causing it, then he was going to die. It was too much to bear and still act normal.

"Liela?" Charlie asked again in a softer voice. "Are you coming?"

I somehow convinced myself to move. I think I must have nodded or said something, but I am not quite sure. I was more concerned with Aaron's impending doom than answering Charlie.

I think I heard Charlie sigh and then he walked close enough that I could see his shoes in front of mine. I did not bother to look up from the ground, which is why I was so surprised when he hugged me. The plain weirdness of it all brought me out of my stupor even more than when he was just talking to me.

"He's going to be alright." He reassured me, speaking into my hair. "We'll make sure of that won't we?"

"Yes." I chocked out. Apparently speaking had something to do with crying because I started crying again as soon as I answered. Surprisingly Charlie did not let go like I thought he would. Maybe it was just the paranoia again, but I hugged Charlie back so he could not back up even if he did want to. But he did not leave and I'm not sure how long we stood there.

But I do remember that I had soaked his shirt and Aaron had come back, which convinced me to let go.

I do not know what I thought he was going to say, but all Aaron did was smile mischievously at us. "Charlie," He said trying to sound angry and not doing it very well. "What are you doing with my girlfriend?" I nearly cracked again when he called me his girlfriend. I still was not so sure that I would be able to be his girlfriend in a few days.

"I'm not doing anything to your girlfriend." Charlie told Aaron refusing to be fazed by his teasing. Embarrassment was one thing, but letting him see it embarrassed was another. "I'm just hugging my friend because, for some reason that I don't quite understand, she seems to think that you're going to die."

Aaron laughed like he was supposed to. "Well of course I'm going to die." I squeaked and I think I started shaking. "But not anytime soon so what's she crying for?"

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. She's your girlfriend, shouldn't you understand her?"

"The girl part of that throws the whole understanding thing out of whack." I managed to say with a weak smile as I wiped my eyes. "You should know that by now." I still did not feel that confident that Aaron would be okay, but I sure was not going to let him and Charlie worry about me. Not if it meant that it kept them from doing what was necessary to save Aaron.

We had to save him.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and a good part of the evening running as fast as we could towards Mom's house. Yes, I mean we actually _ran_. I thought it was stupid considering that if we flew we would have already been there. But Aaron, being his strange little self, wanted to run. I don't know maybe it had something to do with his rabbit DNA, but all he wanted to do was run. It was a little insane, not to mention strange, but hey, we were getting there.

"If we _run_tomorrow," Aaron nodded his head eagerly, looking like a little kid, "than we should get to Mom's a little before noon." Charlie told him and me as we sat around a fire that was even smaller than yesterdays.

"Cool." Aaron said standing up.

"Where are you going?" I asked still worried, but hiding it a little better than before.

"The same place you are if you don't mind." He said holding out his hand to help me up. I took his hand, a little confused as he pulled me off between the rocks and boulders that surrounded us.

"Where are we going?" I asked a few moments later once I had lost sight of the fire's glow behind us.

Aaron smiled back at me as he gently pulled me towards his unknown destination. "You'll see."

I just sighed and followed him. I was not in any mood for his games, but so far I had never been able to stop him, even when things were going well.

Suddenly Aaron stopped and turned to face me. "Okay," He said beyond happy, "close your eyes."

"What?" I asked wanting him to stop with the suspense. "Aaron please stop this weir-"

"Oh please Liela?" He begged.

With a sigh I closed my eyes.

"Make sure to watch your step." He laughed as he spoke. He knew he was funny.

I however did not want to laugh. "Aaron." I whined trying to get him to understand that I was not in a good mood.

He laughed again. "Okay, okay."

Our feet made soft scraping noises as we walked over what I assumed was stone. For one stone was all around us the last time I saw and for two it was not anything else like grass or gravel. I noticed a quieter burble also, different from the scraping that our feet made when we walked.

"Okay," Aaron said. "You can open your eyes now."

It was an oasis. An amazingly pretty oasis, especially considering that it was surrounded by nothing but clay colored rock. The grass was close to green and there quite a few cactuses in bloom. The burbling sound was coming from a small swiftly flowing stream that collected into a pool on the other side of the grass.

"Wow," I muttered forgetting for an instant that this might be the last time we went on what we jokingly called a date. "When did you find this place?" I asked taking the oasis in. It was the first thing I had seen that was even close to _green_ in who knew how long.

"When I was looking for firewood." He said pulling me down to sit next to him on the sparse grass. He put an arm around my back and I leaned my head against his shoulder.

Much sooner than I thought he would, Aaron let go and pushed me into a sitting position so he could look at me. "Two things." He said. I nodded and waited for him to go on.

"First." He said leaning close. "I'm going to kiss you."

I wanted to laugh. If things did not change he was going to die and yet he was still acting like his incredibly dorky self.

As soon as he said that he literally swooped down and kissed me. I will spare you the details seeing as some of you might be too young to know (I'm looking at you Marie). That and it is not any of your gorram business so deal with it.

Ultimately Aaron backed away. He did not look up at me at first, which was strange in itself, but then again this whole freaking situation was strange. He still did not really look at me as he scooted over to sit next to me. He wrapped an arm around me, only it was not like sweetheart thing. It was more like a friendly one armed hug.

"What's the second thing?" I asked feeling the difference between how Aaron was holding me now and how it felt before, like yesterday for example.

Aaron sighed and I knew it had to be bad because Aaron never sighed. Not without a good reason anyway, like the world was ending or someone had eaten his share of the peanut butter pie. (Apparently this still classified as a catastrophe in his book even with the very real possibility of his death.)

"Liela," He said calmly and dramatically, further telling me that something was bothering him. "I think - Oh right my list." He suddenly said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wrinkled old piece of paper. He unfolded it, careful not to let me see what was written on it. "Okay ready?"

I nodded unsure but positive that I could handle almost anything after yesterday's extreme hard ball.

"Right so, 'We need to talk.'" He started off obviously reading from the paper. "'It's not your fault. It's me.' 'I've lied.' 'Do you remember when I said everything is all right?'"

I was beginning to get a nasty suspicion. "You've never said that everything would be alright."

He looked at me but continued reading from the paper. "'You're like a brother/sister to me.' 'I think we would be better off friends.'"

I honestly could not believe it. "Aaron," I said making him look up. "Just spit it out."

He sighed again and put the paper down. "I'm breaking up with you." He said quite calmly actually looking up at me for the first time since kissing me.

I could not help it: I laughed. I think I shocked him, but I could not stop laughing anyway. "Y-your own p-p-potential death doesn't fa-faze you b-but you try to b-break u-up with me and y-you get a-all dr-dra-dramatic." I rocked back and forth trying to get a hold of myself. When I started laughing so hard I could not breath Aaron started telling me to breathe. I think he must have thought I was going hysterical.

Eventually I calmed down enough to really make sense of what was going on.

"How long have you been planning this?" I asked wrapping my arms around my drawn up knees.

Aaron waggled his head back and forth in his sign of 'I-don't-really-remember-let-me-think-about-it'. "Oh, about two seconds."

"Impulse decision. Very you." I told him. "Why'd you kiss me than?"

"Just to be sure that I was right."

I waited. "About…?"

Aaron sighed again. Wow, three times in about as many minutes, it was a new record. "Because I don't think we were cut out to be boyfriend girlfriend. I actually agree with those last two from the list."

"You mean the friends and sibling ones? And what list?" Where in the world had he gotten _a list_?

Aaron nodded. "Yeah I do. And before you ask this has nothing to do with the barcode."

"How can this have nothing to do with the barcode if you decided to do this two seconds ago?" I asked starting to get annoyed like most girls do when guys dump them, only I suspect it was for different reasons.

"Because I don't think you really love me."

"Wha-?"

He held out a hand stopping me. "You care. I know you care, but I don't think you actually _love_ me. Not like, Cal and Taylor do or your parents did. It's just a different kind of love."

"The kind that deserves a corny breakup speech apparently." I said starting to sulk, but not really because Aaron had dumped me. I think somewhere I had known this was coming, I just did not want to ruin something because I _thought_ I may or may not like my boyfriend more as my best friend.

We were quiet for a moment. "So," I hesitated wondering if the standard I-hate-you feelings applied to mutant bird/rabbit teens. Really I did not hate Aaron, although I was a little bummed. "Where did you get the list?"

That got Aaron to smile. "Will gave it too me the last time we were at Mom's house. It's a list of breakup lines, here it says, 'Sometimes it's hard for us to start a conversation with our partner, especially if it is about a break up. However, many choose to use the same lines as all the others. So, we've gathered all our favorite break up lines and made a top 10 list.' The last three are pretty good." He said as he handed me the list.

I looked at them and snorted. "'Do you really want to know why I go out to dinner with my assistant?' Yeah that's a great conversation starter. Oh my- 'Have you always been so boring?' That's not hateful at all is it?"

"The last one is my favorite." Aaron said trying to breathe normally.

I read it to myself first and laughed. "'Give me back my keys.' That's supposed to be a conversation _starter_? I mean, the 'I don't love you anymore.' works better than that, as harsh as it is." We laughed a little more as we helped each other up.

"Hey," I said as we began to make our way back to 'camp'. "Why didn't you use the 'I don't love you anymore'?"

"Well it was like I said," He told me as he jumped down from a large boulder and waited for me. "In a way you do care about me,"

"But it's more like how Charlie cares about Cal." I said understanding a little more. "Okay then."

"You know what else is funny?" Aaron asked.

I snorted. "What?"

"I had to point out your own feelings to you, and you're supposed to be the super sensitive girl."

I choked out a laugh. "Yeah, you just proved all those dating movies wrong didn't you?"

That was the only part Charlie heard of the whole conversation above. He looked up as Aaron and I came between the small gap in the rocks we had disappeared through about half an hour before. Aaron was smiling like he usually was and I was grimacing about Aaron's joke.

"Have fun?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, best break up date I've ever been on." Aaron told him as I plopped down on a rock nearby.

"Is that why Liela looks like she's going to hit you with a frying pan?"

"Nah." Aaron said.

"He took a potshot at my super sensitive girlyness." I told him.

Charlie looked at Aaron like he was out of his mind.

(I'm sorry I have to interrupt here. I was thinking that Aaron _was _out of his mind. Even _I_ knew better than to make fun of a girl for acting like, well, not a girl. True my experience with girls was closer to zero than any other number, but Cal, being my older sister and a unique kind of tomboy, took it upon herself to kick my butt whenever I made fun of her when we were younger. Whenever she was thinking of beating me up she always got this look on her face. It was not too long before I learned to recognize that face and use it to measure how much longer I could push her buttons without getting hurt.

And right then, the look on Liela's face told me that Aaron had about ten minutes before she hit him.

"At least I didn't mention her cooking huh?" He told me with a sly smile.

Okay, maybe five minutes.

"You might want to stop-." I tried to warn him.

"While I'm ahead?

"No, it's more like stop or you'll only be a head." Still, he did not listen.)

This is why I whacked him over the head with my backpack five minutes later.

After that I sulked over to my blanket and dragged it over my head. I refused to come out even for the candy bars that we had picked up in the last town we had been in. Aaron tried to apologize a little longer, but after I took the leftover soup from the night before and smothered it into his hair, he left me alone and crawled to his own corner to try and sleep, leaving Charlie to take first watch of the night.

* * *

Wow, my tenth chapter not including the prologue. That's pretty cool. Anyway, not much to say except I hope you review and I would also like to thank BlackWingsBlueEyes for doing so last time. Thank you! Bye.


	12. Chapter 11: March 22, 2032: Day 3

Hello all, you might not have noticed this but today is July 22. No that's not very exceptional, but it means that it's been one year since I first put up the prologue of this story. I thought that was cool. Anyway, read on and please send me reviews.

* * *

After Armageddon

"Charlie?"

"Yeah Liela?"

"I think we should both write this one."

"That might get confusing."

"Please?"

…

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

Chapter Eleven: March 22, 2032 - Day Three

Charlie and _Liela_

_The next morning, instead of an alarm clock someone thought shaking me would be a good wake up call._

Really? All I got was a swift kick to the shins. Seems to me someone missed out on all the fun.

_Well we can't all pull off the bruised and battered look as well as you can Charlie._

Anyway.

"Guys, get up!" Aaron said trying to shout at us as quietly as he could.

"Whaaaaaat?" I moaned not wanting to wake up yet seeing as I was pretty sure it was still dark.

_"What happened to sleeping?" I asked._

_"Sleeping went out the window when Flyboys decided to crash the party."_

_"Wha-?"_

_"You heard me." Aaron said as he pulled me up and started throwing stuff into the bags._

I was already on my feet and helping him. Between the two of us we managed to get Liela moving away from the smoldering embers of last nights, or I guess it was still this night's fire; she had never been easy to wake, especially before dawn.

"We need to fly." I told Aaron before we were out of the safe enclosed space were we had been sleeping. "So you need to change now."

"Little problem." He told me.

"Oh no."

"I can't change."

_I tripped when they both stopped so suddenly._

"What?!"

"Yeah, I noticed about the time Liela started screaming about the barcode. She kicked in the startle effect but nothing happened." When we were eight years old, Taylor was still the incredible brat that he is now, and he thought it would be funny if he dressed up as one of the meaner Whitecoats we knew. Of course it was around Halloween so when Aaron, Will, and I stepped outside in our costumes to go trick-or-treating (yes I've been trick-or-treating, I'm not a complete Neanderthal) Taylor jumped out of no where and Will and I both screamed for Mom. Mom punished him real good, which was a plus, but Aaron had involuntary changed into a rabbit after Taylor jumped out of his hiding place and he did not change back until the next morning. This involuntary change came to be known as the startle effect, because now whenever Aaron gets too freaked out, he changes into a ball of white fur with a nose.

"So you can't change at all?" I asked in disbelief.

Aaron shrugged a yes.

I swore.

_I finally managed to get my feet under me._

"Come on Liela we have to run." I told her.

_"Run?" I asked wishing my ears were clogged or something, because I was not looking forward to running when I could fly. Still Charlie and Aaron pulled me up and started pulling me forward._

_"I can run by myself guys!" I shouted at them._

The shout was enough to attract the attention of the lead heads. We sped up the pace to a nice sprint when we heard one of them crash into a boulder about fifty feet behind us. When they got themselves together, literally, they started the chase in earnest and we sped it up to a mad dash.

Aaron laughed out loud. "Wow I forgot how much fun this is!" He said as he scrambled over a bunch of rocks and pits in the hard dirt.

"Forgot? We did this just the other day!"

"What can I say? I've got memory issues!"

_"This would explain why you think everyone else's birthday is your birthday!" I shouted as I first gained on the boys and then passed them. "Come on guys you can do better than this!" I shouted back at them, truly awake by now._

_A loud bang nearly made me trip again._

"They're actually shooting at us!" I yelled slightly surprised. They did not _shoot _at us. We were too _important_.

_Wow, that did not sound pompous at all._

"I guess we're not worth keeping around anymore." Aaron said as he tried to push himself faster.

_"At least it isn't nets again! That was downright insulting."_

"I think I'll take insulting over dead." I said glancing behind me as another bullet splintered a rock as I ran passed. "They're gaining on us!"

_"Scrap!" I yelled back pedaling to avoid a broken nose. "We've got bigger problems."_

It was then that I saw the hundred foot _cliff_ that was looming in front of us. You might think that all cliffs loom over people if they're big enough, but let me tell you that I have seem much bigger cliffs and only a few of them have ever loomed.

_Yes we get the point, the cliff was looming over us, get on with it._

Thanks Liela.

So we had a looming cliff in front of us and trigger happy idiots behind us. The situation was like sucking rotten eggs; disturbing and nauseating at the same time. We could fly, but since Aaron could not change Liela or I would have to carry him and then it would be near impossible to fly up fast enough.

Although if the trigger happy idiots cornered us than it would be impossible to go up at all, at least not without getting shot half a dozen times in important places anyway.

This left us with basically three options.

We could run to the left.

We could run to the right.

We could not run at all and beat the idiots into little silver, fur filled shards.

Of course we chose option three.

"Makes the most sense." Aaron said as we got ready to fight off a mess of Flyboys.

_"So you think we can win?" I asked as the three of us got ready to face who knew how many morons._

_Charlie and Aaron both snorted._

_"Yes."_

_"No."_

_"Maybe."_

_"No idea."_

_"Great." I said recognizing their just-guess-and-don't-bother-asking-us-cause-we're-really-not-sure routine. "We're about to be trampled by who knows how many morons and neither of you even have a clue of what to do!"_

"Well do you have any bright ideas Miss Smartyfeathers?" I asked just a little stressed out by the present situation. "No? I didn't think so, so quit blaming us."

_"Shut up the both of you." Aaron told us as he watched for moving objects around and between the rocks that made up most of the landscape in front of us. The sun was just beginning to rise, brightening the gray-brown landscape._

_"Hey Charlie," I asked suddenly remembering something that might be important, like save our sorry hides important. "Isn't there a Fire Cave near here? Can't we hide there until the idiots are gone?"_

Fire Cave's were small hideouts that the Phoenix used to, well, hide things. And though our knowledge of the Phoenix rebel organization was limited seeing as we were not full fledged members (ha ha, feather jokes); they did trust us enough to let us know where small things like their Fire Caves were located.

"Yeah." I answered remembering the rough 'x' on a map that Aunt Ella had shown us once a year or so back. If I was remembering right, which was a fairly big 'if' giving how long it had been since any of us had seen that map, than the Fire Cave was a little ways to our left, somewhere along the wall that was blocking out path.

"Change of plans," I yelled. "Go left!"

The sunlight was strong enough to see small, fast moving pieces of metal below us among the rocks as we started to run, but since the three of us were next to the base of the cliff, we were still covered in shadow. I don't think the thick grayness made it harder for the Flyboys to see us since they did not have normal eyes and their limitations, but I think it must have helped somewhat because it took a few minutes for the lead heads to realize we were moving again.

_Given the tremendous speed that Itex's non-living experiments usually have, it was not long before the Flyboys had caught up to us._

_Not that they really needed to catch up seeing as we were well within range of their weaponry even before they noticed we had started running again._

_"Stupid cretins," I muttered as another rock shattered over my head with the force of the bullet that had rocked into it. "What do they think they are? Cats?"_

_"Naw," Aaron said having heard me. "If they were cats we would have outsmarted them already."_

_"How does that make sense?" I asked him raising my voice._

_"Haven't you ever watched Sylvester and Tweety cartoons? The bird __always outsmarts the cat."_

"Sadly the cat always lives too," I added, "even if you drop a piano on 'em."

"Well you can't have everything now can you?" Aaron said glancing over his shoulder. "There gaining on us." He told us gravely. "Are we close yet?"

I looked up, hoping to see a black spot on the cave wall that meant safety was near, but of course that would have been too easy.

_"There!" I yelled pointing forward. "Keep going."_

_Ahead of us was a thin break in the cliff. Most likely it was some sort of ravine or rift or whatever you want to call it that had been carved out of the rock by moving water.  
"In there!" I told the boys shoving Aaron when he looked the other way._

'In there' was even darker than out there. The walls of the rift went straight up with little variation such as openings or pathways that might lead us to our Fire Cave. Not to mention they were set close together so we were forced to run in a single file line, making me feel claustrophobic as well as five years old.

I was last in line, so when the Flyboys appeared behind us and started shooting again, naturally I was a little more worried than Aaron and Liela.

"Move!" I yelled as rock dust started showering down on my head. Liela, who was in front, started pushing herself faster, but not near as fast as I expected her to go.

_I was looking for the Fire Cave while I was running, not as easy as you think._

I thought girls were supposed to be better at the whole multitasking thing?

_Not when it comes to highly stressful situations where we're running for our lives and trying to find an itty bitty hole in the middle of a skinny trench where robots are shooting at us._

Shooting at you? You were at the front of the line. They were shooting at me!

_Speaking of shooting. "Can't you move any faster?" Aaron yelled behind me as a droning whine filled the air around us. "They're taking off!" I suddenly wished that there was a ceiling above me even if it would have meant that we would have to crawl. Since the Flyboys could __fly, my guess was that they were planning to basically dive bomb us._

The group of trigger happy Flyboys behind us had shrunk, but they were still there. Of course I only realized this after a bullet went through my shoulder.

I know I stumbled because I almost knocked Aaron over. Somehow the rabbit-wonder managed to keep us both upright and switched places, putting me in the middle of our line. I was not really aware of this at the time, it just seemed like magic to me, since my shoulder felt like it was on freaking fire.

_I suddenly smiled unaware that Charlie had been shot. "There it is!" I yelled and pointed to a short bump in the rock wall far above the airborne idiots and our own heads._

Despite the fuzziness that was brought on by the pain, I distinctly remember swearing. "That is a long way up."

_"We need to get above the line of Flyboys before they get close enough to see where the Fire Cave is." Aaron said starting to breathe hard._

_"Got it," I said stopping hard and unfurling my wings as I jumped off the ground to give myself some kind of lift. I twisted back and grabbed Aaron's upheld hands and pushed off the closest wall and started flying as quickly as I could towards the Fire Cave._

_It took me a second to realize that Charlie was not behind me._

_He was still under us, running to keep a safe distance between him and the Flyboys. I did not know that there was a bullet buried in his shoulder, much less that it had put a nice dime sized hole through his right wing. All I know was that he was clutching his shoulder and he was not flying._

_"Put me down!" Aaron ordered when I froze. "Grab Charlie and get to the cave!"_

_"What about you?" I asked even as I tucked my wings in to land near Charlie._

_Aaron smiled at me in an unusually sad fashion. "You're going to have to trust me. I'll be okay."_

_I did not trust him actually, but somehow I could not bring myself to contradict him._

_"Come on Charlie," I yelled grabbing him whether he liked it or not and yanking him upward. I moved faster than before since the line of flying Flyboys was closer than before._

_I whooshed past the line with more than enough time to spare and then tucked my wings in and for all intents and purposes, disappeared._

_Really I had fallen onto the slight ledge that the cave opening rested on. The slight bump I had mentioned before had a hole in it that led to the actual Fire Cave. I was planning to leave Charlie there and go back for Aaron, but before I could jump back down, Charlie grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me into the crawl space that lay beyond the hole._

_"What are you doing?" I hissed at Charlie._

"They'll see you!" I hissed back. I made sure to keep a good grip on her seeing as she still looked like she was about to jump off the little ledge that sat outside the safety of the opening. "And we can't help him if they shoot us."

That seemed to calm her down, or at least restart the more rational part of her brain, because she relaxed and nodded. I let go but did not turn away until I was sure she was not going to jump. Then when I was, I nodded myself and scurried deeper into the Fire Cave.

_"Does this one have a peep hole?" I asked still mad that Aaron was alone outside with a bunch of gun toting morons._

I nodded. I could feel blood starting to run down my back from the bullet wound. I was pretty sure the adrenaline rush from being chased, shot at, shot, and hiding, was wearing off, because I was starting to wear down, like some sort of wind up toy. The loss of adrenaline plus the loss of blood was making me tired and just a little unsteady.

This was not a good thing since Aaron was still outside and so were a mess of murderous robots.

Still, the two of us managed to climb down to the actual Fire Cave and opened the peep hole.

_Peep hole is probably a really bad description for the window sized two way mirror that was set in the side of the cave wall. There was a normal bed sheet that usually hung in front of it to act as a kind of blind, but I quickly ripped it away so we could see what was happening._

_"They've caught Aaron." I said hearing my flat excuse for a voice._

I managed to make my way to the mirror.

"Turn on the voice…thing." I said forgetting the name of radio like device that would let us hear what Aaron and the Flyboys were saying. Leila flipped it on and we listened and watched as one of the Flyboys started to interrogate Aaron.

"So," A snide voice filtered through the squawk box that was supposed to be the Fire Cave's one way radio. "Where did your friends go wabbit?" The voice sounded worse than usual not only because it was coming through the dilapidated old brown box sitting next to me, but because it was also being filtered through the lead Flyboy's radio as someone spoke through it, making it even statickier than it would have been normally.

_I thought it sounded worse because I recognized it._

_"Oh no." I whispered afraid someone besides Charlie would hear me despite the old squawk box's one way listening limitations. "Charlie," I turned toward him horrified, "it's that psycho guy from the New York Institute."_

_That psycho guy was actually the one and only, at least I surely hope there was only one of him, Dr. Bradley Akins._

But of course, we never called him by his name, it was too nice.

"I don't know Elmer Fudd why don't you tell me?" Aaron said using a nicer name than psycho. Than again, it probably pays to be nice to people that pretty much have your life in their hands. "Aren't you supposed to be the hunter anyway?" Aaron shot back.

Okay, so maybe not that nice, but still.

_The psycho kept talking unaware that Charlie and I were even here._

_"Mm-hm-hm," the psycho's usually muffled humming laugh was even worse because of the screwy radios, "It's nice to know you haven't changed wabbit."_

_"Yeah too bad I can't say the same for you." Aaron said looking pointedly at the Flyboy the psycho was talking through. "What in the world are you wearing?"_

More muffled laughter.

"I had forgotten how funny you could be wabbit." The psycho said cheerfully. "It's too bad about you dying and all. You always could make me laugh somehow."

Aaron plastered a look of false shock on his face. "Dying? Me? Well that sure ruins my plans for Christmas. What am I ever going to tell the others?"

"I don't know." Psycho said in such a way that I could practically picture him leaning back in his chair and swinging his feet up on top of some poor table or another. "Why don't you ask them to come out and you can ask?"

Aaron tilted his head to the side in pretend thought. "Naw," He said. "They're busy trying to find a way to save me, so I think its best to leave them alone."

_The 'save me' brought me back to reality. "Charlie," I whispered turning to where my other friend was leaning wearily against the rock wall. "What do we do?"_

I did not have the faintest clue, but I figured I could not tell Liela that. She would hit me for sure.

So I opted for a cookie cutter plan that would hopefully lead to something more specific to our nasty situation. "We need a distraction."

_I rolled my eyes at the vagueness. "Like what?" I snapped. Aaron and the Psycho were still chatting, seemingly harmlessly although I knew Aaron well enough to hear the biting edge beneath his words._

_"You know I could fix that for you." The psycho said coolly and I found myself drawn back into the conversation as Charlie tried to think of a better plan._

Really I was trying to think of why everything was looking so gray, but then I figured we were in a cave at the bottom of a huge cliff where sunlight really could not visit, so I dismissed it and tried to pay attention to what was going on.

_"Fix what?" Aaron asked shifting his weight and crossing his arms over his chest._

_"You actually." The psycho said still very cryptic. "You're starting to break wabbit. In a few days your body will begin to shut down. I can stop it if you like."_

_I think I felt my heart stop when the psycho said that. It meant there was still a way to save Aaron._

I latched onto the thought that we, and when I say we I really mean Mom, still had a few days to figure out how to stop the barcode from killing Aaron just as I latched onto the nearby wall so I could stand up fairly straight.

_"Fix me huh?" Aaron said looking at his arms and legs. "I didn't realize I was broken."_

_It was weird hearing a sigh come through a Flyboy's radio, especially since the Flyboy stayed just as stoic as ever. "We've already been over this wabbit," Psycho man said. "You're dying. Get used to it."_

_Aaron's laugh was short. "I see your bedside manner has improved and who said dead meant broken?"_

The psycho's humming laugh registered even in my poor hearing. I tell you this whole being injured stuff just really stinks. First my sight and now this; it was terrible.

"I said, that's who."

Aaron snorted. "Right, because everything you say is 100 correct."

"You're catching on wabbit, now what do you say? Do you want my help or not?"

_I very nearly missed Aaron's answer. I was so confident that I already knew what he was going to say, what was going to happen, that I did not pay attention like I should have._

_Aaron waggled his head back and forth. "Eh," He said sounding much too much like Bugs Bunny than usual. "No."_

I barely heard the Flyboy sigh again as I slid down to the floor with my back against the wall so I could still see outside the window. "Oh I had hoped you would take my help." Psycho said sounding almost disappointed. "The Director, I'm afraid, is only interested in your bird friends and really doesn't care if we bring you back breathing or not."

_Aaron was nodding like this was no news to him. "That would be why she set off the chip in my brain. I kinda figured that much. Why did you want to save me?"  
"Oh, personal reasons really. The rabbit hybrids were my idea you know and you happen to be one of the few remaining ones."_

_I could picture one of Aaron's white eyebrows rising like they always did when he wanted to know more information. "Few remaining?"_

_"Yeah," The psycho said more regretfully. "The Director doesn't, or didn't really, see a need for wabbits like you. She stopped the project shortly after it was started."_

"Huh," Aaron said thoughtfully. "That would explain why I have never met a cute Lola Bunny." The psycho hummed a laugh again. The sound grated on my poor muted ears.

Even with my slowing senses, I thought it was strange that the conversation had taken such a slow and ordinary pace. Usually it was shoot first and have nice long chats later.

"Oh well." The psycho sighed again. "It was nice getting to talk with you at least wabbit."

Aaron shrugged. "Can't say I feel the same Fudd."

The psycho laughed as the Flyboy he was speaking through raised his left arm as a sign to his followers.

"NO!" I heard Liela scream as an awful fear settled over me.

"Fire." The psycho ordered calmly.

_I don't remember screaming. All I remember is that there was a loud crack, like thunder and lightening striking at the same time, and my world shattered._


	13. Chapter 12: And Then There Were Two

Hello again, I'm updating on what I'm pretty sure is the last free day of my summer. I go off to college tomorrow and I have no idea when I will be able to next update because I have no idea what to expect. However I am NOT stopping my stories. I like them too much. Anyway, hope you like this chapter and I'll talk to you later.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Twelve: And Then There Were Two

Charlie

You may have noticed that Liela and I have mainly been the ones writing except for those little narrator switches where Mouse helped out and that chapter from Cal. You also may have wondered why only the two of us would write when there have been times that Aaron went through the exact same thing. And if Liela and I have been able to describe Aaron only half as well as we should have, then you might have realized that someone like Aaron had no problem telling his side of the story.

I watched Aaron fall as the Flyboys surrounding him murdered him without hesitation.

Liela was crying as she stared out the window, unable to look away. We were both frozen were we sat as shock started to take over. I distantly remember hearing the Flyboys leaving through the bulky squawk box next to me, but the noise sounded like it was coming from far, far away. I was not sure if that was because I was so out of it or if it was because of my shoulder wound messing with my hearing.

A sharp pain snapped me out of my dazed state. My shoulder was killing me and I could still feel blood seeping down my back although it was slower than before. The gray impeding my vision had grown darker so that I could hardly make out Liela's trembling form standing in front of the sunlit window.

Still, I - somehow- managed to get myself into something resembling a standing position with the help of the rock wall. I pushed myself towards the window and picked up the sheet that was the makeshift blind. I did not look through the glass as I covered it with the sheet. I did not think I could handle that image right then.

Not that I could handle much else anyway. I barely remember sliding down to the ground, my back towards the window, before the blackness I was seeing finally took over the rest of me as well.

* * *

When I finally woke up again, I was lying down with my head propped up on what felt like a folded blanket. Maybe the one that covered the peep hole? No, that one was hanging on the wall in front of me and as far as I knew there were no more in the cave.

A soft noise made me look up. Liela's upper body was above me. She was leaning back against the wall behind her as she cried and I could only assume that my head was in her lap.

Drowsy as I was from loss of blood and only being half awake I realized that this was an, shall we say, awkward position.

I tried to get up but a by now familiar pain started throbbing in my shoulder and I had to relax. Liela must have felt me move because she gasped and tried to get rid of her tears before I could see them.

"Charlie," She said her voice raspy from crying. "Are you okay?"

I groaned. I was definitely not okay.

"No," I told her through my teeth. She sobbed again and her hand flew to her mouth. I guess she thought I meant I was not going to be okay ever again. "Oh, no," I told her again tilting my head back to look at her and reaching a hand up to peel away her hand from her mouth. "That's not what I meant. I'll be okay. I promise. It just hurts a lot is all."

She calmed down a little more after that, but she still hiccupped occasionally. "Sorry," She said. "That might be my fault. I did the best I could, but we only had a few bandages left and I didn't really know what to do besides the obvious." I tried to look over at my shoulder but that did not work so well. However I did see enough starched white strips to realize that Liela had tried to wrap up my injury.

"That's okay," I told her feeling the bandage with my right hand. "Just help me up okay?" She sniffed and nodded before moving her legs and pushing me up with her hands. Between the two of us I managed to sit up. Almost immediately the dark cave walls started spinning around me and I closed my eyes to try and get the dizziness to stop.

"Charlie?" Liela's worried voice came from right next to me.

"I'm okay." I lied hoping she would believe me.

A weak snort told me she had not. At least not completely but she did not say anymore about it.

The silence that followed weighed heavily on the both of us. I more then half expected Aaron to squirm through the small hole that led here and make a joke about how he was being pressed into a pancake just trying to get in.

"How long have I been out?" I asked afraid to think about Aaron.

"I'm not sure." Liela admitted. "A couple hours at least. I was thinking about going to Mom's to try and get help if you didn't wake up soon. Although," she continued sounding more like her normal self. Maybe she did not like the silence either. "That's probably still a good idea considering you have a bullet embedded in your wing and shoulder."

I tried to find a good reason to disagree, but the pain and the fact that the walls were still moving, plus Liela's stubborn face, all ganged up against me and convinced me that maybe Liela had a point.

"Okay, sure, whatever you think is best." I said feeling dizzy again. I leaned back against the wall next to Liela and closed my eyes hoping that it would help me feel more like a bird person than a kid's feathered toy top.

It did not really help but it did give me a chance to compose myself so Liela would not freak out more than she already was.

"How far away is it to Mom's house?" Liela asked distracted enough not to notice anything.

I thought about it. "About three or four hours I'd guess. Why? She's the closest to where we are right now. Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere else. The nearest Phoenix nest is in Payson and the quickest way there is through the whole Tempe-Mesa…complex…city thing."

I heard Liela sigh. "Just because the Dictator renamed the city doesn't mean that you can't call it Phoenix. It's not like we obey any other of her rules so why don't you call it Phoenix?"

I smiled just a little bit. "Because if I called it Phoenix then I would never realize that Cal lived there."

"You can't remember that Phoenix is the same as Tempe-Mesa?"

I really did not want to talk anymore but I figured that shaking my head, or moving it in any way, would be a bad idea so I just said, "Nope."

The nasty silence came back and I opened my eyes to see that Liela was staring off into space, thinking about something. I also realized that I probably should have been at least a little worried about what she was thinking about, but I was starting to get tired again and I could not think straight like usual.

"It's only a half hour at the most to Tempe-Mesa right?" Liela asked still sounding deep in thought.

"Uh-huh." I said. As I drifted off to sleep again, something beginning to nag at the back of my mind. I figured it could not be the whole Tempe-Mesa thing because if I really put some effort into it I could remember that Phoenix was Tempe-Mesa. Besides, it was just a city, no big deal.

I had bigger things to worry about. Like my friend's body outside that needed to be either buried or burned so that the sick people at the School did not mess with it. Or the fact that I had a small lump of metal somewhere in my back and my friend was brooding over something. And while that may not sound like too much of a threat you're going to have to trust me on this; Liela brooding equals not good.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I was conscious again was that the sand and gravel floor of the cave had gotten much softer while I had been sleeping.

It turned out that this was because it had turned into a bed.

Actually I did not know this at first, I just guessed because the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a clean white ceiling like you would see in any normal house.

Only problem was the last time I had been in any normal house was over a month ago and that was because the backyard was plagued with the disease known as the Chihuahua.

That reminded me I still needed to give a muzzle to whoever lived in 11306 Cherry Way in Connecticut.

I also needed to figure out where I was, but I did not think that either would be happening either time soon seeing as firstly I was (hopefully) still in Arizona and not planning to go anywhere near Connecticut anytime soon, partly because of the infestation of Chihuahuas, and secondly, I was alone in the room so I could not ask anybody.

"Charlie?"

Well, not that alone I guess.

I had closed my eyes when I heard the voice so I only felt the person sit beside me on the bed.

There was a frustrated rush of air as the person next to me sighed. "I know you're awake Charlie so stop messing around."

I opened my eyes again and saw my sister leaning over me with what I guess could be considered a worried look. I thought I had recognized the voice, but it was still a shock to see my older sister sitting next to me in what I was sure was some kind of secret room in her house.

"Where am I?" I choked out wanting to be sure about that as well as wondering why my mouth was not working right.

Cal sighed again. "Where do you think dorkus?" I noticed she sounded kind of worn out. "You're in my apartment in the hidden room."

See told you. I opened my eyes and finally saw _all_ of my surroundings. "More like hidden crawl space Cal. Sheesh, what the heck? You couldn't spare a little more room for your guests?"

Cal snorted. "It's hard to fit a room behind the bathroom without it being too noticeable Charlie. Plus most of the guests that use this room are illegal and could get Taylor and I killed if there seen."

I grimaced. That was the main reason we stayed away from Cal and Taylor. Since the Dictator still did not know that they hated her I at least thought it best to avoid them at all cost so no one would become suspicious. "Good point. Now why am I here? And where's Liela?"

Cal frowned. "She's just over there." She pointed towards the corner where a jumble of blankets and pillows lay in a heap. I thought I could see a little bit of Liela's dirty brown-blond hair scattered on one of the big white pillows. "She finally fell asleep about half an hour ago. She's been crying all afternoon about you and Aaron. She somehow got the ridiculous idea that you were going to die."

I did not say anything. The words 'Aaron' and 'die' had brought back this morning's awful event and the memories were still colorful and fresh. I took a moment to bury the memories in my head's basement where I kept all the other skeletons and then took another moment to weld the door shut behind me.

"So I take it that you managed to put me together again huh?" I asked instead. I noticed Cal was looking at me funny, like she expected me to breakdown like Liela.

But she did not say anything about it. Instead she said, "Yeah, it'll still take a few days to heal completely, but as long as you don't get an infection or try to fly too soon you should be good."

I nodded. "Thanks. Hey, what time is it anyway?" I asked since there were no windows (since that would be stupid in a secret room) or any clocks that I could see.

Cal sighed wearily and flipped her watch around her wrist so that she could see the face. "It's almost one." I took it from her absurdly tired state and the fact that I had probably slept through most of the afternoon anyway that she meant one in the morning.

Just what I need, freaky sleep schedules. "You can go to bed if you want." I told Cal seeing how tired she looked and not thinking of any reason for her to stay and suffer with me. I knew I was not sleeping tonight.

She yawned. "Yeah I will. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay and I didn't want to leave Liela in here all alone." She said looking sadly over at the pile of blankets and pillows.

The look on my sister's face, halfway between grief and pity, made me realize that she knew why Aaron was not with us. I figured that Liela would not have said anything because she usually gets too worked up when she cries to make any kind of sense. So I had assumed that Cal would think Aaron was just somewhere else. It was not too uncommon for us to have split up and meet later at a safe house. I have to admit that I was glad Cal would jump to the wrong conclusion. I did not want to say what happened out loud right now; it would make it too real by telling someone. Maybe this is what people mean when they say that someone is in denial over death.

I was glad when Cal did not say anything, but I was surprised when she leaned over and hugged me before getting off the bed. "I'm sorry Charlie." She said softly before letting me go. She stood up slowly, whether it was because she was tired or upset I did not know, but she told me good night and then quietly left, turning off the small light behind her.

I was a little shocked. Cal and I had never been that close, mainly because we had grown up apart in almost different worlds. I think our only connections were our parents, Mom, and our loathing for the Director. Basically we were on the same side of the argument but we thought different things were important.

So I guess that's why I thought it was strange that she thought this was just as important and hurtful as I did. But then again, I guess Aaron had been her brother too.

I lay awake the rest of the night thinking about my family. It turned out that I had not welded that basement door as tight as I had thought and Aaron's death was not the only one I found myself mourning over.

* * *

It's sad, but I hope you like it. Right now I have to go pack. Wish me luck! I'll try to write soon, bye.


	14. Chapter 13: Hard Pressed

Hello again, I can't believe its been a month since before. I'll tell you now, this word -Aimee- is pronounced AH may. At least it is in my head and I'm pretty sure that's what it said on or whatever. I would also like to thank BlackWingsBlueEyes for leaving reviews for the past for chapters. You are amazing.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Thirteen: Hard Pressed

Cal

The next morning I was frying eggs for breakfast. Taylor was still asleep and I was pretty sure that Liela and Charlie were too. I did not know for sure because it was too dangerous to look in on them during the day.

I finished my eggs and flipped them onto a plate with the spatula before going to the sit at the small circular kitchen table. The apartment Taylor and I lived in was fairly normal. It had a master bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, a small dining room (where I was now), and an even smaller kitchen. The only difference between it and the one below us was the secret room where my brother and Liela were at the moment, and the furniture, which was nicer than the neighbors because most of it had been a present from Taylor's parents.

Also, like any other apartment in the building, it had cameras everywhere.

That was the main reason why it was not smart to go see how Charlie and Liela were doing right now. Now since Taylor's parents were so special and Taylor himself was a genius, we were allowed to turn off the camera in the bathroom when we needed too and some of the other ones, but those others were mainly at night. We had to be careful though so the Director, who I was sure knew what was going on on every camera 24/7, would not get suspicious.

So instead of going to make sure that my brother's injury was clean and Liela was not so depressed that she would not even move, I sat there, eating my eggs.

Maybe this is why I no longer like eggs, but anyway, as I was finishing breakfast, Taylor shuffled through the bedroom door. I had told him last night after he had gotten home about our guests and why there were only two of them. He was shocked at first more than anything. Because of his family and work connections he knows more about the Director's plans then the rest of us and since he had not heard even a rumor that she was thinking about ordering her minions to exterminate any runaways they found, he was a little worried.

But as he mumbled good morning and sat heavily down at the table across from me, I could have never been able to tell that he was worried about anything. Partly because he was not a morning person and occasionally he did not start making sense until noon, but mostly because of his good acting skills.

"Do we have any bread?" He asked with a yawn.

Yep, Taylor and his amazing acting skills frequently astounded me.

"It's by the toaster." I told him wondering if he was really interested in bread or the stupid toaster.

"I want toast." He announced mostly to himself as he got up and shambled over to the kitchen counter where both the bread and metallic silver toaster where.

I have nothing personal against toast. It's warm, it's crunchy, and it goes great with cinnamon.

But I'm going to bet that _your_ toast doesn't have scribbly little messages on it that you can't read half the time 'cause of the black stuff on top of it.

I guess I should explain. One of the stupidest inventions that the Phoenix developed for communication was…

The toaster.

Okay, so the modern toaster was invented by Charles Strite, but the Phoenix, oh, modified it a little so that it toaster burned little chicken scratches onto the sides of the bread. Ours literally burned them, so we always had to scrape the toast afterward, which only added to the highly annoying part.

I thought it was stupid, if you hadn't been able to tell already, (I mean, my burnt toast is talking to me? How stupid can you _get_?) but it did have its good points. Such as no one really looked on food for hidden messages plus no one could find it later because you ate and digested it.

I heard a loud groan from Taylor as he pulled a drawer open.

"Did the toaster burn your toast again?" I asked mildly. It was our indiscreet way of asking if we had toast mail.

"Yeah, but this time it absolutely charred it." He said as he started scraping the black grit off of both sides.

I sighed. If we had mail there was no way we were going to be able to read it. "We need to get a new toaster." I told him wishing I could go just buy a normal one from the store, but _noooo _we had to get freakish speaking toaster.

"Don't worry about it," Taylor said coming back to the table. "I'll fix it. It shouldn't be too hard."

I busied myself with my coffee cup and didn't say anything. If he said he could fix it, than he could, it just might take longer then either of us would like.

"Are you checking on your bird kids today?" Taylor asked me as he finally deemed his toast close enough to brown to be eatable.

_My bird kids?_ Oh yeah. "I'm not sure. Probably. Aimee's growing faster than anyone else has and I'm a little concerned. Plus Jack's a little antsy with all the feathers he's suddenly sprouting."

"He's the one they picked for the test yeah?"

I nodded. "Hence all the new feathers." I explained.

"Might as well bring the Ancestors if you're going, the younger ones will be thrilled to see them."

Usually the Ancestors were our two parrots, Ella with no Yella (for my aunt) and King of the Wild Things (for my mother) also known as Ella and Wild Thing. They were both Blue Fronted Amazon parrots and the three younger kids at least loved them to flight. That may confuse you at first but think about what birds do when hyper young children get to close.

But today I took a wild guess and thought that Taylor had turned Charlie and Liela into the Ancestors.

I nodded. "Yeah, Wanderer and Melanie will like it if no one else." I said as I picked up my plate and put in the sink for later. "What are you going to do today?"

He pointed at the stupid metal message box. "Toaster remember? It'll probably take me most of the day, so."

"Well if you have extra time you should stop by. Jack, Tim, and Matty would love to bug you."

"I will keep that in mind when I need a good ego boost." He said jokingly as he hugged and kissed me before going to get the implements of toaster torture.

Half and hour later, I was dressed, clean, and had packed my four feathered friends into my car. Charlie and Liela were hidden in the carrying crates with the original Ancestors. Don't even ask how I squeezed them into those unnoticed, much less the car. It's a pain in the rear and I don't like reliving unpleasant memories.

My clinic was only a short drive away thank goodness. If I had to spend more then fifteen minutes listening to Wild Thing screech because Charlie was invading his space or whatever it was that he was doing, I was going to knock their stupid crate off into the middle of the road. Ella doesn't like driving so she was quiet and Liela hadn't said a word since I'd asked her if she wanted to come see the kids.

I managed to haul the crates inside all by myself without too much fuss and put them on the chairs in the reception room in relief. "Molly!" I yelled when I did not see my receptionist sitting in her usual chair in the big round room where she was supposed to greet any guests or inspectors that came to see the kids or facilities.

There are two kinds of clinics now; the kind for normal people and the kind for the not so normal people. The normal ones have not really changed from before the Director took over the world. They deal with sick people, plain and simple. The other ones are mainly referred to as Labs because usually that's what they are. They are no where near as disturbing as the ones Charlie's been in most of his life, those are not exactly public knowledge go figure, but they try to do the same thing on a more humane level. For whatever reason, they change the DNA and basically study the outcome. Let's face it, if the Director treated her public experiments as badly as she did her hidden ones, the general public would probably hurt her.

"Hello!" I called again moving towards the back of the building where the kids lived. All seven of them were orphans for various reasons, and I had gotten special permission for them to live here instead of the orphanage. Molly, Steven, Trey, and I looked after them and Trey lived upstairs. The main point of our work was to watch them and make sure they did not get sick. Occasionally one of them was picked for some study that led to some new weird thing, like Jack and his new feathers, but that was not too often thank goodness since we were so small.

"HELLO!" I yelled sending Ella into a honking fit. A door opened and Molly poked her red-blond head out of the far door.

"Hi Cal," She said happily opening the door all the way and coming forward. "I thought you weren't coming till later."

I shrugged. "I wasn't doing anything else and Taylor's busy so, here I am. I brought the noise makers too." I said pointing with my thumb to the two crates.

Molly put her hand to her chest and bent her knees as she looked up at the ceiling in her usual 'thank you God' gesture. "Good, Jack's acting like a teenager and he's been bugging Wanderer and Melanie all morning. Aimee's gonna hit him soon and then we'll have a real problem."

"IT'S. NOT. AMY!!" Aimee's voice flew through the open door and made us all jump, including Charlie and Liela who bumped their heads on the tops of the crates.

I walked quickly towards the yelling, and stopped suddenly when I remembered Charlie, Liela, Ella, and Wild Thing and how none of them would appreciate being in those plastic boxes any longer then need be. I turned to Molly who was right behind me, ran into her, and pointed at them. "Would you get those?" Then I ran through the door to see what was going on.

I stopped again just inside the door.

"Oy!" I yelled to get the older kids attention as they rolled on the floor trying to throttle each other. The other five jumped and scooted back when they saw me, not wanting to be a part of the punishment.

Jack and Aimee however, did not seem to hear me.

"HEY!" I yelled and stomped over to push them away from each other. They scratched and slapped at each other basically ignoring me until someone came and pulled Jack away with bodily force.

I pinned Aimee's arms to her side and got in front of her so she could not see anyone but me. She struggled like Wild Thing when I tried to put him his cage last Friday after he had escaped, screaming all the while.

"YOU STUPID NO GOOD-"

"Aimee."

"-UGLY IMPOSSIBLE IDIOTIC-"

"Aimee!"

"JERK!!"

She stopped screaming and squirming altogether and flung herself sobbing onto me.

I rolled my eyes once her face was buried in my shirt. I patted her back and twisted around to see where Jack was. Charlie had him against the counter, one arm around his shoulders to keep him still. I did not think it was too necessary now; the fight had gone out of both of them once they were pulled apart, but it seemed like a good idea to keep them separate for a little while. I nodded at a partly open door nearby and Charlie quietly pulled Jack into the room and shut the door behind him.

I turned back around and saw that Molly was already trying to distract the other kids with the Ancestors and Liela. Four year old Wanderer especially was looking at the older girl like she had pulled her out of a burning building. I used the lack of attention to escape with Aimee into a different room to talk to her.

She escaped from my hold as soon as we were in the room. I closed the door behind me with a soft click as she sat on old dirty sofa that was across from the small TV that helped to kill time on those nasty rainy days when no one was allowed to go outside and play.

I sighed as she pulled her knees up to her chest and continued to sob. I sat down beside her and began to rub her back again. "What's the matter?" I finally asked when her sobs had calmed down somewhat.

"H-he-he's a-an i-i-idiot." She stuttered starting to really cry again.

"Oh okay calm down." I said soothingly rocking her from side to side. "Just take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

* * *

I handed the thick brown journal that we had all been writing in over to my little brother.

"Your turn." I told him before walking out of the room.

I'll just warn all you loyal readers out there right now, hold on to the book covers, it's about to get confusing. After all they're teenagers.

* * *

Charlie

As I sat there looking at the sulking thirteen year old sitting across from me, I fervently wished that I was anywhere else in this whole stinking world. Maybe a canyon where I could find a clue as to where psycho guy went, or heck, I'd be happy to be suddenly transported to his stupid School or wherever it was that he tortured people.

"So," I said not knowing what else to say but pretty sure that Cal would want to hear something when we got out.

Jack looked up at me. I had met him a couple times before. He was a cool kid all around if not a little bit of a parrot. What can I say? He found his heroes and he copied them. I can not help it if it bugged me that he did it to _me_.

Maybe it was because he actually looked like me to begin with. He was skinny (like most kids with bird DNA), strong (again bird boy issue), and had dark hair. The only real visible difference was his eyes, which were a plant shade of green. I bet his wings would be the same dark color as his hair too.

"You've gotten taller." I finally noticed. He was scrunched up in a ball against the wall so I had not really seen his height before.

Jack actually met my gaze and snorted out a laugh. "You should see my new feathers." He said sounding angrier.

"Feathers?" I asked.

"Yeah," He said standing up and peeling the back of shirt up to show me his back. "Aimee won't shut up about them. Says they look like someone tried to tar and feather me."

I could see why although I certainly did not say that out loud. Starting at the base of his neck and spreading along his spine where a bunch of blue-black feathers that spread out along his shoulder blades like some feathered cross.

"Where they trying to give you wings?" I asked as he pulled his shirt back down.

He snorted again. "They failed miserably, and now none of them will shut up about it."

"Is that why you're suddenly trying to hit your girlfriend?" I asked sitting back down.

"She's not my girlfriend!" He snapped looking like he was about to hit me now.

I held up my hands and waited for him to calm down again.

Eventually he sat down with a huff. "I was playing a video game with Matthew and Mel and Wanda wouldn't leave us alone, so I told them to go somewhere else."

* * *

I walked down the hall to the dining room and put the book at Cal's elbow before going to grab my lunch.

* * *

Cal

"Jack was picking on Wanda," Aimee said distraught. "She only wanted to know what they were doing in their game; he didn't have to push her." She said.

"He pushed her?" I asked taking note.

Aimee nodded. "She started crying which brought me and Mel into the room. Melanie started yelling at Jack and then when he didn't listen to her she went over and unplugged the Xbox from the TV."

"I bet that went over well." I muttered.

* * *

I found Charlie sleeping in his room and I let the book fall onto his chest. He snapped awake with a start and a vague, "What the-", but I left the room before he could start yelling at me.

* * *

Charlie

"I only shoved her a tiny bit, but Wanda fell over and smacked her head on the armrest. And then Mel and Aimee come running in like there's a fire and Mel gets all mad because her sister's crying," he rolled his eyes, "so she starts screaming 'What did you do to my sister?' 'What did you do to my sister?'" He said in a high pitched voice trying to imitate the six year old girl's voice. "She was being a brat and didn't even ask why Wanda was crying so I ignored her and then she goes and ruins our game by unplugging the consol."

An unsaved game, too bad, I thought to myself bitterly but didn't let Jack see. I did not think he would appreciate the resentment.

"I bet I can guess the next part."

Jack looked over at me sulkily. "Matthew got a little upset."

I did manage to smile at that. "Only Matthew?"

Jack looked even guiltier. "I guess I got kinda mad too."

My smile felt grim. "We'll just assume that you and Mel were having a screaming match.

He shrugged. "Basically."

* * *

I threw the book at Cal as she walked past the door.

* * *

Cal

"I tried to stop them." Aimee said sobbing again. "But then Jack started yelling at me and kept calling me names."

She broke down again and started weeping.

* * *

I saw Charlie walking down the hall and chucked the thing at him.

Too bad I missed terribly.

Liela's still upset about the bump.

* * *

Guess

"And then Aimee jumps in and calls me some kind a chicken and laughs about it." He said heatedly. "So we started yelling."

So the screaming match changed contestants.

* * *

I slid the book across the floor and watched as Cal read the sticky not that was on the cover.

_'Next time we just flip a coin. This is ridiculous.'_

* * *

"He kept calling me Amy even though he _knows_ how much I _**hate**_ that stupid name." Aimee said through her teeth.

"And that's when you tackled each other." I said putting everything together. Aimee nodded.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I had only been here fifteen minutes and already I was getting a headache.

"Okay," I said. "You stay here and once you're calm you come outside okay?" She nodded and wiped her eyes.

I smiled at her a smoothed her hair down one more time before getting off the bed and going to talk to Jack or, hopefully, Charlie.

Lucky me, Charlie was just outside the door looking like he was about to knock.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Your friends have issues." He told me with a straight face.

"Thanks Charlie, it's nice to know how helpful you can be."

He shrugged. "Jack's not happy about his feathers especially since Aimee keeps calling him a chicken."

I hung my head and tried to remember where I had put that bottle of ibuprofen. "Okay, Aimee basically said that Jack pushed Wanda and Mel started yelling and then she started yelling and then they started fighting."

He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like the basics, he pushed her, she hit her head, the girls ran in, assumed the worst, and everyone started screaming."

"I can spot a few differences in your basic summery." I told him wondering what I was going to do.

Charlie had the nerve to smile at me. "That's why I'm glad it's your problem."

I shot him a glare just as both doors opened nearly simultaneously. I swear Aimee almost went back inside.

"You two have nice timing." Charlie told them, keeping them out in the open.

I waggled my fingers at them. "Come here please." I said. "Both of you." I added when Jack just stood there.

They both shuffled over looking like I was going to paddle them like two year olds. Who knows, I might.

"_You_," I said pointing to Jack first, "should not shove the younger kids even if it doesn't hurt them and you need to learn to control your anger and not yell at people. Understand?" He nodded glumly. He shot a sideways glance at Aimee who was smiling just a tiny bit.

I stopped that quickly. "And _you_," I said turning to her, "should not make assumptions or make fun of Jack's new feathers. Understand?" Aimee nodded keeping her eyes glued to her shoes.

"Okay, then you can go." Aimee walked away as quickly as safety allowed, but Jack lingered self consciously.

"Was there something else?" I asked wondering if I should be curious or dreadful.

Jack's face turned red and he stuttered something while pointing at my brother. I looked over at Charlie hoping for some clarification.

He looked as uncomfortable as Jack. "I think I know how to grow out his wings." He said.

I looked over at Jack, surprise written all over my face and longing written all over his.

The Director was playing with risky, not to mention nasty, stuff when she tried to grow wings out of a half grown bird kid. And usually the subjects ended up either with a handful of feathers on their backs or dead. Jack fortunately was in the first category, but a bunch of the others had not been so lucky.

If I turned Jack's feathers into wings, the Director would probably think that her experiment had worked and she would move onto the next level ending the numerous deaths that this experiment was causing…

…which also meant that she would turn Jack into her prime lab rat.

Fortunately someone, Melanie it sounded like, started crying because one of the birds had bitten her. I quickly went over to see what Wild Thing had done and sent Timothy to get a Disney Princess band-aid. I needed to think about this a little more before I answered.

* * *

I think I like Jack, Aimee, and their friends, when they're not trying to strangle each other anyway. We may see them again. Hope you liked it and please review. Bye.


	15. Chapter 14: Running on Automatic

Okay, so this chapter is kind of short but oh well; Liela's out of it.

Hey, my best friend's birthday is coming up real soon and I've been trying to find this Hiei plush or doll or whatever you call it, but all the places I looked online said it was out of stock. Does anyone know where I can get one for about $10? If not I'll just make one out of felt or something but still it would be much appreciated if I could find one and get by this Sunday. Thanks, read on.

*******

After Armageddon

Chapter Fourteen: Running on Automatic

Liela

While Cal and Charlie were trying to make peace between the tweenagers, I was busy being surrounded by munchkins. They were nice kids, but they had a lot of questions, most of which I did not want to answer.

This is why I am so thankful that I had those two feathered noise makers, even if I had been stuck n a crate with particularly cranky Ella for almost an hour. The two little girls, six year old Melanie and her younger sister Wanderer, especially were fascinated by them even though I am sure that they see them fairly often. This was very good since they were the ones with the most questions.

The two eleven year old twin boys, Matthew and Timothy, were just that, eleven year old boys, obsessed with video games, sports, and anything having to deal with the word adventure. They thought it was cool that I was on the fly. I wondered briefly if they would think it was so cool if I told them one of my best friends had just been murdered, but I kept my mouth shut and smiled as Wanderer asked me what my favorite color was.

I am not too sure what happened since I was preoccupied with Wanderer, who fired off questions faster than my old friend Michaela after I had told her that I had had a crush on the new guy with the cat eyes in my English class. But I think Melanie got to close to Wild Thing as she jumped around in excitement because he freaked out and bit her, very, very hard. I was only a little shocked that her blood was a metallic gray-blue color. I briefly wondered if there was a bit of a lobster or maybe octopus or squid in her. It was not unheard of, but before I could give it too much thought Cal came squeaking over in her tennis shoes to see what was the matter.

"You can let go now Liela, I've got it. Tim, go get a band-aid from the cabinet." Cal said pushing my fingers away so she could look at Melanie's cut. I let go almost with a start, I had not even realized that I was pressing on the little girl's bleeding finger.

"I want one with Jasmine on it." Melanie said her eyes still red and teary.

"Okay," Cal said soothingly and relayed the orders to Tim who was jumping up on the countertop so he could reach the higher cabinets. There was a chair behind him, but for some reason he did not bother to use it.

It took me awhile to notice that Charlie and the two tweenagers were sulking around the back of the circle that had sprung up to surround Melanie and Cal. Well, I guess Charlie was not exactly sulking; brooding is probably a much better word, and Jack looked more like he was caught somewhere in between desire and common sense, but Aimee was definitely sulking.

_"So what?"_ said a nasty little voice inside my head, _"you've just lost your friend and she's just been smacked on the back of the hand for fighting. What right does she have to sulk when she's been taken care of her whole life?"_

I did not answer myself as my head started to ache fiercely.

"What's the matter Liela?" The youngest boy, Zach, asked. I focused on my surroundings again and realized that the circle that had sprung up around Melanie and Cal had disappeared. Timothy and Matthew were back to playing their video games on the other side of the room, Wanderer had gone with Cal to look after her sister, and Jack and Aimee were still caught up in their thoughts. Charlie was gone.

I forgot my headache in an instant and whipped my head around as I tried to look at the whole room at once. He was not there.

I snapped back around to Zach. "Where's Charlie?" I asked feeling as if I was on the point of some sort of nasty breakdown.

Zach pointed back to the small hallway that led to their bedrooms and the game room, giving me a worried look. I shot up and practically sprinted down the hall, looking in each room as I did so. Not there. Not there. No. No. N-

I backpedaled suddenly and nearly fell over. Charlie was sitting with one leg pulled up on a bed in one of the spare rooms that Cal and the other adults that worked here used when they needed to stay with the kids overnight. He was reading a comic book that I guessed he had gotten from Jack or one of the other boys and when I skidded to a stop in front of the open doorway, he put it down and calmly looked at me.

"Something wrong?" He asked seeing my near panicked state.

I stared at him for a minute, not sure what to say, not even sure I knew what I was doing. I had just freaked out because I did not know where he was. That was it. I did not know why.

My headache returned with vengeance as the adrenaline left my system. I put a hand up to my head and rubbed my temple trying to relieve some of the pain. It did not work as much as I hoped.

"You okay?" Charlie asked and realized I had not answered his first question; I had just stood there looking at him. He must have thought that I was losing it.

Maybe I was. I did not exactly feel like myself. "My head hurts." I finally told him. "I'm going to go lay down."

He just nodded and watched as I turned around and went to find someplace quiet to rest.

*******

I ended up in Aimee's room since Melanie and Wanderer's room was too pink and frilly and the second spare room was too plain and secluded. I did not even dare to look into the boys' rooms. After half an hour I gave up on actually going to sleep, but I still did not get up. I lay there looking at the pretty purple and blue wallpaper trying not to think about my frightfully numb and uncaring attitude, my awful circumstances, or anything at all for that matter. My head was throbbing as it was, if I added thinking to the mess it was probably going to split open.

I closed my eyes hoping the darkness would help me either fall asleep or soothe my head. After a few minutes of blissful silence the pain receded just a tiny bit.

At least until the door opened and Aimee poked her head into the darkened room.

"Liela?" She asked softly. "Are you awake?"

I sighed deeply. So much for blissful silence. "Yes," I said with another huge sigh, "I'm up. What do you want?"

The almost thirteen year old stepped quietly into the room and perched on the side of her bed. "I brought these for you." She said holding out her opened hand. I slit my eyes open, my eyelashes making things fuzzier then the lack of lights did.

In her hand where two red painted pills with little numbers scratched onto the wider sides. "Molly uses them when it's her time of the month." Aimee said in a harsh whisper with her right hand up by her mouth so that if someone passed by the door they would not see or hear what she was saying. Maybe she expected Molly's someone's-talking-about-me sense to start tingling and she would come and suddenly appear in the doorway, demanding to know what Aimee was talking about. "I always hear her say that they're miracle workers."

Something made me think that they were about as miraculous as any other Advil or Ibuprofen or Tylenol, but I took the pills anyway. I had not thought to take anything because I was used to not having anything besides a backpack with an assortment of pre-packaged food and maybe a set of spare underwear. I did not even have a toothbrush. I had lost it on one horrible terror-filled run or another.

"Thanks." I told her as I clumsily took the pills and the glass of water she had thoughtfully brought with her.

I flopped back down on Aimee's flower covered pillows, feeling my hair whip up to cover my face and spread across my shoulder and the pillows.

It was quiet for a minute and if I had not felt the dip in the bed where she was sitting, I would have thought that Aimee had left me alone.

But of course she had not. I guess it was just too simple for me to be left in peace.

"Are you okay?" She suddenly asked. I opened my eyes again and looked up at the girl through my scattered hair. Unlike me, Aimee had her dark brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail held together at the base of her neck with a mother of pearl hair clip. Some kind of remnant from her mother or someone like that I guessed because I did not think that she had just picked it up at Limited Too in the mall. Worry lines appeared just above the bridge of her nose as her dark eyebrows pulled together with worry. Her pretty brown eyes, which usually made me hungry because they reminded me of chocolate, were filled with worry too.

Briefly I wondered how bad I looked if a twelve year old girl that I had only met once or twice before thought she should be this worried about me.

But it was very, very brief, practically fleeting, and I did not think twice as I told her, "Yeah, I'm fine. My head just hurts is all."

Aimee looked down at the cup in her hands, rubbing the smooth sides of the glass as she thought about my answer.

"I didn't," She started uncertainly. "I didn't mean it, like that. I meant," she stopped, "I meant are _you_ okay."

I think that was as close as she was going to come to, _"not physically stupid"_ since she was trying to be nice to me. I had heard that fight earlier and more than a few others like it; Aimee was not afraid of speaking her mind.

But like I said she was trying to be nice.

I opened my mouth to tell her I was fine again, but my mouth choked on the words and all that came out was some sort of whistling, almost whining, sigh.

"I'm just tired." I said as I closed my eyes again. I sounded like an out of breath doll, like the kind that talk when you push a button in the middle of their back; preprogrammed and unaware of anything that was actually happening around them. Maybe my new mechanical tone was the reason why Aimee was so worried about me.

Still, she did not ask me anything else and after a few minutes of careful silence she left.

As Molly's miracle pills finally started to take the edge off of my pounding headache, I began to drift into sleep, wondering if I really liked the silence Aimee had left behind more than her questions.

*******

Liela's so upset, it's sad. If nothing else please leave me a review, please. Pretty please with sugar on top if that sweetens the deal any. Ha.

Okay, I know I know, not that funny, but leave a review anyway please!

Rose


	16. Chapter 15: Screaming

I'm late, I know. As an excuse I've been sick, busy, and just plain stuck. For awhile I just didn't no how to write what I wanted.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter 15: Screaming

Charlie

I think I must have sat there staring at the first page of that comic book for at least twenty minutes before I realized I was not reading so much as looking at the one pretty picture where the hero was left hanging off a cliff with the bad guy standing over him laughing manically. I have never especially like cliffhangers, but when I had first opened the colorful picture book, I had laughed grimly.

A few minutes later I threw Jack's old comic book to the other side of the small room. I had been barely able to focus on that fight between the two quarreling love birds much less on this kiddy picture book. I sat there for a moment, letting my mind go blank and unconsciously reveled in the quiet. I could not consciously revel because that would involve thinking, and I was trying to avoid thinking at the moment.

I do not know how long I sat there seeing as I was trying to avoid thinking, but a soft sound in the doorway finally made me snap back to reality.

Zach was standing in the doorway, staring at the blank wall next to my head with a strange glassy look on his face.

"She's screaming." He said in soft voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "She needs you Charlie." Zach looked at me, his large dark eyes making me think of owls or old men's glasses. But then his wide, child's smile turned him back into a little kid. "And don't be too mad at her Charlie," he said still using his Halloween voice, "she only did it because she likes you."

Then the nine year old boy blinked slowly and started to fall sluggishly. I jumped off the bed and managed to grab his shoulders before he collided with the floor.

It was a general rumor that the Dictator's pet project was developing telepathy and clairvoyance in numerous creatures from ants to humans to mutants. My aunt Angel was only the beginning. The knowledge that the Whitecoats gleaned from the few days that they had held Aunt Angel hostage was enough for the Director to carry out almost thirty more years of research and experimentation on other children, both human and otherwise. But like most of her 'pets' the Dictator made sure to add a few extra safety measures to ensure that her psychics did not run away from her, or that if they did, they would not live much longer apart from her. Her favorite weapon of choice was the benign brain tumors that grew slowly in a certain part of the brain, near the front I think. So far Zach's brain has been pretty clean, but his new seizures were nasty warning signs that something was wrong.

I caught Zach as he fell and pulled his head onto my lap, trying to keep his head still as he shook. I did not worry about him swallowing his tongue or anything like that because that was only a wives tale from who knows when. All that would happen if I stuck my fingers in his mouth would be pain, on my part, not his, when he bit me.

So I sat there, nervously waiting for the seizure to end. I did not even call for Cal or Molly because 1) I honestly did not think of it and 2) because on some level I think I was afraid that if I turned my attention to something else, Zach would spontaneously combust or melt into the carpet.

Eventually the tremors stopped, but Zach still lay there, sounding a little out of breath. Seizures like his usually take a toll on the body and make the person feel like they've just run a mile. Sometimes they get sick too. Speaking of which Zach started coughing fiercely and I turned him on his side so he could throw up on the carpet rather than himself.

When his breathing steadied again, I heaved a sigh of relief and wiped my face with my hand, getting rid of the sweat. "Cal!" I called shakily, leaning back so that my voice would, hopefully, carry down the hallway. When nobody came running I called again, this time a little steadier. "CAL!"

Thirty seconds later three heads peered around the corner. Molly walked briskly down the hall after seeing my pale face, her usual entourage of Wanda and Mel following close behind.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Molly, Mel, and Wanda, even if two of them constantly poke me with stuff and the other one likes to pull my feathers. Usually I can get past the little girls poke, poke, poking me with their fingers, tongue depressors, and Barbie dolls, but the last time I was here, Molly gave me a bald spot because she would not stop pulling out feathers. Fortunately they were only contour feathers so I could still fly, but still, Aaron made sure to remind me that I was going bald before I was even fifteen.

I shook that train of thought off the tracks and out of my ears as feather collecting Molly crouched down beside me, carefully balancing in her high heels as she examined Zach and fired question after question at me. Yes, he had had a fit. No, I really wasn't sure why. Yes, he had said something.

Molly rolled her eyes at my vague answers. "Well what did he say?" She asked slightly impatient.

"Yeah, what did he say Charlie?" Wanda parroted.

"I don't know," I said slightly annoyed myself, "something about screaming and someone needing help and not being mad. I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying and more to what pasty color he was."

I think I must have yelled that last part, because Trey, the man who lived upstairs to keep an eye on the kids when everybody else got to go home, walked around the corner looking like he was ready to break up a fight. His confident walk stuttered when he saw me, like he was shocked I was here. Then he caught sight of Zach and the way Molly was hovering over him and quickly crouched down next to us on the floor.

"What happened?" He asked concerned as he began to make sure that Zach was okay.

I told them what happened again and waited while they 'consulted' with each other over our heads. I looked down at Zach, who was awake, to see him shrug. He still looked tired and when Molly and Trey started asking him questions, he spoke softly and did not try to get up.

"Hey Molly?" Cal's voice suddenly interrupted Trey's next question. "Have you seen Trey anywhere? He's supposed to have been back half an hour ago, oh there you are-hey, what happened?" She asked when she saw the five of us gathered around Zach on the ground.

I waited for someone else to blurt out what I had told them but instead everyone else looked at me.

I read or heard somewhere that little daily hassles can add up to be more frustrating than great big sudden life changes, like babies, or divorce. Or death.

And I guess right then I had had to deal with one hassle too many because I suddenly snapped at everybody, "TELL HER YOURSELVES! You're all grown ups here; what do you need me for?!" Then I squirmed out from under Zach ignoring the alarmed looks they were all giving me and walked stiffly down the hall.

I do not know where I was going - it's not like I had anywhere better to go - but I stopped in front of a darkened room, thinking it was some kind of storage room where I could hide and hopefully unwind.

I stumbled through whatever miscellaneous items that covered the floor and sat on what felt like a wooden box and put my head in my hands, digging into my eyes with my palms. Maybe Liela's headache was contagious.

A slight moan and hushed rustling noise caught my attention and my head shot up like a dog that had just caught the scent of that million dollar criminal. Of course while I had been in that situation tons of times, I was usually the million dollar criminal so I could only assume how the dog felt.

My eyes had adjusted enough to the dark so that I could see I was _not _in a storage room, I was in a purple and blue room that kind of reminded me of an underwater wonderland. Aimee had let her girl side show through when she had decorated because while it was not the frilly pink torture room that Wanderer and Mel slept in, it was still filled with its own fair share of frills and lace although the different colors made it more watery than girly.

The sounds had come from the person shaped lump tangled up on the small person sized bed. The sleeper kicked and twisted and whimpered again before rolling on her back. She was too big to be Aimee and Cal and Molly had been at my little meltdown which meant that I had found out where Liela had gone.

She whined again, a sad and pitiful sound, as if she were crying in her sleep.

"Aaron." She whimpered her fingers curling around the rumpled up blankets as if she were clinging to the edge of a cliff. "Don't leave." She begged.

I stared down at the purple carpet, trying to see if my laser eyes had grown in yet so I could burn a hole through it. But instead of heat exploding out of my eyes they only burned and the dim room blurred violently, making it look more like under the sea world then before. I did not bother wiping away the tears; there was no one around to see anyway, but I refused to look again even when I heard her start to thrash about. I saw the sheets and the green spotted blanket land in a heap on the floor out of the corner of my eye but I concentrated on my laser hole and did not look up. I could not block out her panicked cries though, and they only got worse as her nightmare went on.

"No." She said, her words getting clearer. "Don't. Stop. Stop! NO! AARON!"

I jumped off the desk I was sitting on and slid out the door, not bothering to close the door behind me. I took off down the hall scrubbing my eyes with my sleeves.

"Charlie!" I thought I heard Liela's faint voice.

I did not stop and I did not want to go back. I realized with a start that I was not just upset, I was furious. Flamingly, blazingly furious. At the wretched School. At the stupid psychotic Director. At idiotic Fudd.

"Charlie." I heard again vaguely behind me but ignored it as I stalked on.

Then another insight hit me and I realized that I was not just mad at the Dictator and her cronies, I was mad at Aaron and Liela too. Mad at Aaron for dying in the first place and mad at Liela for panicking and taking us here. To this stupid, naive child filled clinic in the middle of a Whitecoat filled city that _my sister_, whom the Director did not know about, ran. One more wrong move and we - and that we included Liela, Cal, Taylor, Molly, Steven, Trey, Jack, Aimee, Tim, Matt, Zach, Mel, Wanderer, and me - were all going to wish we were with Aaron.

"Charlie!"

My surroundings came back to me when Cal grabbed my upper arm and spun me around to face her.

She took in my red eyed scowling tear stained face with one look and then let go of me.

"It's not her fault Charlie." She said trying to sound soothing.

No, I silently agreed with her, this whole stupid mess was not Liela's fault, but that did not subdue the wrath I felt whenever I thought of her or Aaron or what could still happen.

"I know," I reassured her. "I just, I just," I stuttered trying to tell somebody, even if she was my obstinate older sister, that I knew exactly who was to blame; me.

But Cal only raised her left eyebrow at me and lifted her shoulders minutely. "Just what?" She asked, her tone reminding me that I was about to admit my guilt and weakness to MY OLDER SISTER.

"I just need to be alone for awhile." I, miraculously, smoothly finished my half finished sentence.

Cal sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose like she had ever since she was eight years old when she had seen Mom do it because she was frustrated with somebody or another. I shook my head stopping the image of my parents screaming and fighting in the dark against the Flyboys that had ambushed them and the others. I did not want to deal with their loss right now too.

"Okay, fine," she told me, my irritation infecting her, "I really just wanted to tell you that I think it might be safer if instead of squeezing you and Liela into the bird crates again you two could stay here. No one knows you're here there are quite a few 'personnel only' rooms where you can hide, plus the spare rooms where you two can sleep."

I found myself nodding. "Sure, you want your apartment back, I get it." Cal looked like she was about to protest but I quickly held up my hand. "Kidding." I said not exactly sounding like I meant it. "But yeah, that sounds better then sneaking back with an ill tempered bird and his rock chipping beak."

"Thanks." I remembered to mumble as I turned around and made for one of the 'personnel only' rooms that Cal had mentioned to sit and not-think for awhile.

*******

I accidentally fell asleep in the back storage room on a dusty cot that someone had forgotten there when they were trying to find their own quiet hiding place. By the time I woke up, dim rays of twilight were all that came through the dusty little window that sat high up on the back wall. Stiffly I rolled out of the cot onto the floor, landing on my hands and knees rather then my feet, but I am not a cat so I was not too worried about it as I slowly got to my feet, using the steel frame of the camp bed for support.

I shuffled out of the room, picking the sleep out of the corners of my eyes, wondering where everyone was when the strange quiet was broken by a loud chorus of canned laughter. I turned the next corner and walked awkwardly into the well used Game room.

Amazingly enough all seven of the kids plus Liela were curled up on the various pieces of furniture in the tiny room. On the couch the two little girls had warped up on either side of Liela rather like small cats then children while Timothy sat scrunched on the other end with his brother Matthew on the floor, his back against the bottom part of the couch. I could only guess that they were too tired to bicker over who got the couch seat since I had not woken to fighting earlier. Aimee and Zach had squeezed themselves onto the old recliner, which left Jack the old square chair on the other side of the room. The real amazing part though was that no one was yelling or screaming at each other despite the close proximity, but I guess that was because of the TV that was flickering in the corner of the room. The unseen audience laughed again as a bumbling idiot ran into a glass wall.

No one said anything as I stood there dumbly watching the TV and its other viewers. Liela looked up at me when I entered and kind of watched me like she needed to make sure I was really standing there before Wanderer reclaimed her attention by burrowing closer to her. Dimly I noticed her eyes were slightly puffy and maybe a little pink, like she was either sick or had been crying recently.

I shook the anger away as soon as I recognized it; she was allowed to grieve over Aaron just like I was I told myself reasonably. I turned to leave anyway. There was no point in starting a fight just because I was mad over something ridiculous.

"Where're you going?" Liela's slightly alarmed voice grated on my already thin temper.

"Nowhere." I muttered darkly under my breath as I turned around to leave.

"Charlie," Liela practically yelled in panic. "Wait!" I did not wait and kept walking down the hall. I had not lied when I told her I was going no where, I was just walking. I was half way down the hall before Liela finally caught me. I was a little surprised. I guess I did not expect her to actually get up and chase me.

But she did. "Charlie, wait." Liela panted as she grabbed my arm, pulling at my sleeve.

"What?" I asked angrily turning around to face her and freeing my arm at the same time.

Liela stopped suddenly, as if she had just seen me turn into some kind of poisonous creature (and who knows, maybe I had). Whatever she had wanted to tell me apparently slid right out of her ears because she just stood there, gaping at me.

"What. Do. You. Want?" I enunciated clearly, firmly saying each word hoping the extra force would make her snap out of whatever stupor she was in.

"I-" she stuttered, "I don't-"

I'm not sure what happened, but something in me finally snapped.

"Look." I barked at her, unknowingly taking a step forward as I spoke. "Maybe you should work on thinking things through before you act on them." I spat, anger burning down my back, my feathers involuntarily slicking down and sticking against my shoulders and spine. "That way, not only will you avoid embarrassing yourself but you won't spread trouble around as carelessly as you do now!"

Liela looked as if I had slapped her.

"Wha-?" The word was more of a soft noise.

"I'm talking about your brilliant plan of bringing us _here_." I snapped. "I mean, don't you have any idea how much danger you've put the rest of them in? Cal is probably the best kept secret the Dictator's never managed to get her grimy paws on. If they ever find out that the infamous Max and Fang from their first flock had more then one kid, they will literally take my sister apart on the dissection table. And if the Dictator or any other Whitecoat finds out that we're here they will torch this place as an example and ship the kids to a School so well protected that not even overthrowing the Director will save them."

Giant tears were starting to roll down Liela's cheeks as she stared at me looking shaken by my outburst. I tried to throw away the guilt that suddenly sprung up with her tears, but I was not able to squash it completely.

"You jerk." She sobbed at me.

That did not help either.

Several small gasps made both of us realize that all seven of the kids had abandoned the TV to come watch our show instead. They gasped because Liela did not call me a jerk. I censored it for all you lovely readers out there who may or may not be mature enough to hear something like that.

Liela went on, not bothering to look behind her at the gaggle of children. "I just lost one of my best friends; I wasn't about to let you die too!"

She spun on her heel so fast that her hair nearly smacked me in the face. I stood there staring blanking at her retreating back, feeling as if she had just hit me with something much stronger then her hair.

Some friend I was.

*******

I did not see Liela the rest of the afternoon. Or the evening for that matter. For such a small space she did a good job and hiding from me. Although it was not like I really tried hard to find her. I retreated back to my cot in the storage room to think and, later, sleep.

Trey came in around eight with a tray of food. I think the food was more of an excuse to try and talk to me, but I still ate it. He told me Liela had buried herself in Aimee's bed and cried herself to sleep after our fight. Molly had tried to comfort her, but she did not know how to help Liela and Cal had gone home while I was taking my nap so she could not help either.

I expected when she heard about it tomorrow she would wrap Liela in a hug and chew me out for her. Fortunately Trey knew one way or another not to try and force me to talk. Maybe he still remembered my first explosion in the hall with Zach.

After he left I picked what was left on the tray, thinking about what had happened earlier. No I probably should not have yelled at her. But that did not mean that none of what I said was true. And I was not hurt _that_ badly. I would have lived. Liela was just being paranoid.

I never could get that guilty feeling to go away.

It felt like one minute I was arguing with myself and the next I was opening my eyes to morning sunlight streaming through the little window. As I rubbed my eyes I realized I must have fallen asleep sometime last night without realizing it.

"Charlie!"

The little girls' shrieking pierced my brain like nails on a chalkboard, but the panic in their voices jumpstarted my half asleep self into overdrive. I threw the thin sheet I had found the day before off and ran to the door throwing it open as well. Mel and Wanda skidded to a halt in front of me looking small and scared.

"Charlie!" The both shrieked again. Then they started talking so fast at once that all I heard was a high pitched babble.

"Wait!" I ordered holding my hands out in front of me hoping to stop the stream of indecipherable words. "One at a time."

"Cal says to come quick because the Nasty people got a Say-so into her and she's already starting to hear it more than us and she says her head hurts so bad Charlie." Mel said as fast and as clearly as her six year old mouth would let her. Her sister just started pulling me down the hall toward the back where the lab rooms were. I still only understood about a third of what the little girl said.

"What? Cal's got a Say-so?" I asked incredulously. How'd they get a Say-so into Cal? Unless they already suspected she was not on the Director's side.

"No Charlie." Mel said at the same time Wanda told me, "Somfing's wong with Liela."

I shook the little girls off me and ran down the hall.

* * *

Sorry for the wait again but please review. See ya later.


	17. Chapter 16: Birdie Hear, Birdie Do

Hello again. I hope you all had a good spring break. I did. I got to go to Washington D. C. which was pretty cool. I also read the 5 Maximum Ride book and it was _soooooooo_ much better then the fourth one. And Fang and Max finally, well I guess not everyone has read it, but they finally did anyway and it makes me happy. I also know that James Patterson is writing a sixth one! He said so in an interview. Yeah! I'm excited.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Sixteen: Birdie Hear, Birdie Do

Liela

It hurt so bad. I was sure my head had exploded, leaking all over Aimee's soft pillows.

No, wait, the wetness I felt against my cheeks was tears. My head hurt so bad I was crying and I hadn't even noticed.

An incredibly high pitched whine, like a siren wailing, pierced my pain-enveloped brain and I twitched and writhed trying to find a way to make it stop.

_Liela,_ a voice cooed comfortingly, _I'm sorry it hurts Liela, but I swear it'll go away. Just a little while I promise Liela...._

"Liela?"

The man's voice made the pain spike, making me feel like I was going to retch. At least the other one hadn't made my head ache more.

"Liela what's the matter?" The voice persisted.

I managed to open my eyes enough to make out a shadowed face. The youngish looking man looked at me worriedly. I realized as he stretched his hand out to feel my forehead that I knew him. It was Steven, which meant I was still in Aimee's room, in Cal's clinic. Dang, the pain was so intense that I thought I was back in School either after one of the Whitecoat's mysterious surgeries or frightening drug tests.

I was surprised when my head didn't cave like an empty eggshell when Steven touched me, presumably seeing if I had a temperature.

_You're not sick Liela. You're going to be just fine, I promise._

"You don't have a fever," Steven mumbled more to himself than me. "Liela what's wrong?

The keening stopped long enough for me to moan, "Hurts..."

_Not for much longer I promise Liela._

"What hurts?" Steven persisted.

"mmm head..." I mumbled miserably into the sheets.

Steven muttered something to someone I couldn't force into focus. His words were garbled and muted by the same intense high pitched cry as before and my conscious, which apparently was trying to comfort me, started speaking again.

_Shhhh_, it whispered soothingly. _The pain won't last much longer, besides,_ it said taking on a more seductive tone, _this is nothing compared to losing your friend right?_

I shuddered, the image of Aaron falling coming unbidden and unwelcome into my mind.

A sob escaped my mouth and suddenly I was aware of hands trying to gently pull me to my feet. My limp noodle-like body refused to cooperate and my arms flopped this way and that. I was aware of Steven talking to me again, but I still couldn't make out any specific words.

My head lolled forward and pain sparked again, making spots flash and dance before my eyes. But the voice (I refused to think that my conscious was that mean hearted and vindictive) was whispering again, purring inside my ears.

_Oh I'm sorry darling, but you know it's true. Please don't be mad at me. And you shouldn't be mad at yourself either. It wasn't your fault he died. You did everything in your power to save your friend. But I wonder if Charlie did the same..._

"What?" The word was startled from my mouth.

"I said we're going to give you an x-ray to see what's wrong." Steven answered me. I saw that he had taken me to one of the lab rooms that sat in the back of the building. I could see Cal and Trey in a small room beyond a big sheet of plate glass fiddling with some machine or another.

But then the voice was murmuring again, as cloyingly sweet and sticky as too much honey.

_Who did you have to go back for when you almost had Aaron to safety? Who refused to go back for your friend when you had reached safety? Who didn't save Aaron once he was in the cave?_

"But Aaron told me to get Charlie," I thought as Steven and Cal helped me onto a slanted table. I barely noticed them as I argued with the nasty voice. "And Charlie was right; if I had gone to get him, they just would have killed me too, and that wouldn't have helped anybody. And Charlie could barely stand, much less think straight."

_Defend him all you want, you know those are only excuses._

"No they're not." I thought to it as sternly as I could manage with the throbbing in my skull.

_But didn't Charlie say that wound was nothing but a little old bullet hole? Nothing to worry about. So why couldn't he help your friend?_

"That's not what he said; he just said it wouldn't have killed him right away."

_Well if that was true, then why didn't he even __try__ to help his so called friend? Face it sweetheart, he was too worried about his own skin to help Aaron. He let him die to save himself._

"That's not true!" I vehemently denied.

_It's all. His. Fault._

"SHUT UP!" I screeched pushing my fists against my temples. "JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Liela?" Steven asked shocked by my sudden outburst. "What is it? What's wrong?"

I couldn't answer him since the pain in my head redoubled then tripled as it bounced around inside the close confines of my skull like a bullet against a rock wall.

_I hate to do this Liela, but you forced my hand. You __will__ do as I say whether you like it or not._

The pain broadened, traveling down the top of my spine and down my back to my wings. When it started spreading through my extra appendages, setting every tiny feather on fire, I finally found it in me to scream.

"Liela. Liela!" Cal shrieked in confusion and borderline panic as she started to shake me by my shoulders. "Liela you've got to tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

The fire was still spreading through my wings and I could only stop screaming when I ran out of air. Cal gave me one good shake and I remembered to breathe.

"What is it?" She demanded, frightened.

"Make it stop!" I begged the three adults surrounding me. "Just make it shut up! NO!" The voice had started whispering again, a soothing rumble that made me forget the pain and hear only its hypnotic tone.

_Leave them._ It calmly commanded, but commanded all the same. _They're not good for you. They'll only make it hurt more._

"Liar!" I screamed out loud, not bothering to keep our conversation just between us any longer. "You're just a nasty little lying virus that doesn't know how to button it! And _you're_ the one that won't make it stop hurting."

While I wrestled with the vindictive purr inside my brain, Cal and the others were working busily around me, but I couldn't hear them thanks to the cruel voice in my head and my heart pounding in my ears.

I gave up trying to scream the voice into submission and tried focusing on what Cal was trying to mime to me.

"C..al..." It took all of my will power and whatever was left of my concentration to even make my lips move, add to that having to actually push the sound past my teeth and I suddenly developed an excessive kind of tunnel vision that enveloped the whole body and not just my eyes.

"I'm right here." She tried to reassure me, her voice a little louder than usual. "I won't leave. We're going to get the Say-so out Liela, but first we have to find it. We're going to run the x-ray. It won't take more then five minutes, but I'll stay with you so don't worry."

I was already shaking my head. Big mistake I realized too late as I felt my inner ear do a loop de loop followed by a plummeting drop that made me feel like I was spinning while remaining perfectly still all at once. I prayed to God not to let me throw up all over Cal who was crouched down in front of me. "Ra...diat...tion." I muttered jaggedly. "I-I'll be...all...alright fo...r five..."

Cal finished the sentence much quicker then I could have. "Alright." She said smoothing down my hair after she helped me onto the table. "Alright. I'll be right outside. You're going to be okay."

I nodded to show her I understood. I didn't hear her leave the tiled room; I barely heard the resonating buzzzzz when the x-ray machine went off, scanning my internal organs for the tiny penny that was gumming up the cogs and other moving parts that usually ran smooth enough that I didn't feel like my head was going to crumple like a paper lantern. The voice had given up trying to persuade me with words and had decided to simply rely on pain instead.

I did know when Cal came back because she didn't let go of me after that. Carefully she helped me off the table and kept me upright as I stumbled across the floor and out the door, toward another room.

"Here, sit down." She finally told me when we had stopped moving.

"Oh my," another voice appeared somewhere near the place we had entered the room. "What's the matter with her?" Molly asked worriedly.

"She's got a Say-so." Cal explained not wasting time. "I need you to go help Steven prepare the 3-DVH. I don't want it fizzing out on my just because it was running on batteries like last time." With a smart confirmation, Molly left, hurrying out the room and down the hall.

"Hey!" I dimly heard her cry as Cal made me change into one of those loose hospital gowns. "What are you two doing here? You need to get out of this wing right now."

"But what about Liela?" I heard Melanie ask, sounding very much her age.

"Yeah," Her sister added. "What about the Say-so?"

"We'll take care of that; now both of you need to go somewhere else so we can help Liela." Molly told them firmly and shooed them back towards their rooms. I barely heard the patter of their feet as they dashed off.

By then, I was, well, not dressed exactly, but covered by the hospital gown and Cal was speaking again. "We're going to have to put you under to remove the transmitter-No, Liela don't worry, It's going to go fine." She said quickly when I began to panic. I don't like under. You go down under to get to the Poisoned Wasteland that used to be known as Australia. You go under a bridge to hide in knee deep sewer sludge from people trying to shoot you. You go six feet under when you _die_. Under is not good.

I think by then I was crying again. Cal did her best to comfort me, but I just couldn't forget that in a few minutes she was basically going to drug me to sleep with no guarantee of waking up. The only thing that made this different from all the other times was that Cal genuinely wanted me to wake up afterwards, good as - well, never mind.

_"Listen to me Liela."_ Cal spoke earnestly, her hands on either side of my face preventing me from looking away. _"Everything will turn out all right."_ Her face blurred in front of me and another high pitched keening filled my ears again, and this time I don't think it was coming from me. The pain spiked in my head and the nausea returned; spots in my vision appeared sharper than before, especially compared to the background, which dulled and blurred like wet watercolors.

_"Listen to me."_ She repeated, her mouth moving strangely. _"You're going to feel numb in a moment. It's just the medicine taking affect. Don't panic."_ She tried to calm me.

Her mouth was still moving in strange, unrecognizable patterns and it took me longer then it should have to comprehend what the heck she was saying.

_"__**Listen **__to me."_ She stressed again and I jolted, or tried to anyway, my attention back to Cal. _"If your vision starts to go black while you're numb, I need you to tell me, okay?"_ I nodded as best I could.

_"Good, now-"_

There was a soft thump. "Liela? Oh my-what happened?" Charlie's familiar and welcome voice broke through some of the fuzz fogging up my head.

"Charlie..." I pleaded reaching for a way to prove he was real instead of just another terrible voice inside my head.

He was real. Or at least someone reached out and grabbed my hand, much to my surprise actually. Charlie, it just had to be Charlie, was talking, presumably to me since I didn't hear Cal answer.

"Can you still see Liela? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

My head hurt too much for me to be embarrassed by the tears that were still leaking down my face or the fact that I whined out a, "yes." I managed to open my eyes, figuring that if this was the last time I was ever going to have control of my own mind again, I was not going to just look at the inside of my eyelids.

Charlie was leaning over me while Cal fussed with something else down near my feet. He looked...worried. And not just the will-we-make-our-flight kind of worry, it wasn't even the normal do-you-think-they'll-catch-us-tonight kind of worry I'd seen before when we were in a bad spot. This was different from before, like he wasn't just worried, he was I didn't even know what.

"Do you still hear the Say-so Liela?" He asked.

"Can you still feel your feet?" Cal asked from the other end of the bed.

"I don't know." I answered both of them.

"Try and wiggle your feet for me," Cal asked before Charlie could speak, "or your toes."

I heard the sheets shuffle as I did so, clumsily shifting my feet up and down. I realized what had been so strange before when Cal was speaking to me. The words I had heard didn't match the way she moved her lips. It was like watching the original Godzilla movies, you know, the best ones with the bad dubbing. The Say-so hadn't given up trying to win me over; it had just waited for a better way to convince me to listen to it, like by pretending it was Cal.

Which also explained why Cal and Charlie were so worried if I could still feel my lower appendages, I realized as another epiphany hit. If the Say-so was so keen to convince me that numbness and blindness were normal parts of the surgery to remove the transmitter, then they most certainly were not.

I figured I should tell them this.

"Charlie," I garbled, pulling at his shirt sleeve. "Charlie, its still there. I could here it. It kept telling me I was going to lose feeling and I won't see anything and please don't let it Charlie. Please don't leave me alone." I begged miserably, too scared to care.

Charlie lost some of his worried look and took on a more unsure/freaked out one. That was more like the Charlie I knew; one who did not know how to deal easily with emotions. For an instant I was afraid he would just shut down, like before, leaving me to deal with the hypnotic voice inside my head all alone.

But I was pleasantly, no, wonderfully surprised. "I-I'm not leaving." He stuttered, unsure of himself, but reaching up to envelope my hands with his anyway. "Don't worry. Cal's going to fix you so don't worry." He told me squeezing my hand for reassurance. "I'm not going to leave you."

I couldn't keep the thankful smile off my face as much as I could stop the feeling of relief from washing over me. "Thank you Charlie." I said relaxing against the pillow as a new wave of weariness followed the relief. Maybe the weariness was Cal's fault as she injected a clear liquid into my arm, but I swear that I just felt all my worries melt away, letting me sleep, because I knew that Charlie would keep me safe until I woke.

* * *

I hope you liked it. I also hope that you will send me a review. No one did last time and I thought that was really sad. Please send one? And there aren't any questions are there? Does everything make sense?


	18. Chapter 17: Voices, Feathers, & Toaster

Hey everybody. Happy Easter! Or if you don't celebrate Easter than happy Sunday or whatever other holiday you may celebrate. Anyway, I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed in you all. Only three people read and two reviewed, but I'm happy for those two. To juniper294, I'm sorry I haven't written back, I swear I'm getting there. I'm not sure if an explanation will fit here though.

Also, my friend read this and she loved it. That's why I'm putting this up now. We compromised. I'm also revising the story, trying to get rid of excessive passive voice and typos, and just plain badness. But it may be awhile before I fix anything here. Just warning you.

So, I hope you like this next chapter and have a good Easter!

* * *

After Armageddon

-

Chapter Seventeen: Voices, Feathers, and Toaster Mail

____________________________

(:snicker: "Oh my!")

("Oh behave Charlie!")

____________________________

Charlie

"I wasn't about to let you die!"

"Please don't leave me alone."

Those two lines kept running around my head like a dog chasing its tail until it turned into such a tangle that I couldn't tell where one started and where the other ended.

I stared at Liela's pale face while I held tight to her hand. Despite the fact that she was unconscious, she still had a strong grip on my hands too.

Ga, I was so stupid. My-our best friend had died barely three days ago and one of the first things I had done after that was yell at her for doing what she thought would best help me. Idiot.

And then, when she is in trouble and scared out of her mind, she begs me to stay with her. I mean, did she honestly think I would leave her alone with a Say-so in her head? What kind of friend does she think I am?

Wait, don't answer that last one.

Okay yes, I am not the most emotionally open person in the world, but you've met my parents (kinda). It took Mom five books to actually admit that she loved my dad. I basically inherited this inability to deal with this mushy stuff from them. It's not like I could have avoided this, right?

You know what? Maybe the lot of you should just shut up until Cal's finished with the surgery. Now-

* * *

"Hey!"

"Cripes Cal, that was my freakin' ear! What do you want?"

"You know very well what I want Charlie. We already agreed that I could do the surgery, especially since you just sat there moping the whole time like the love sick teenager you were."

"Hey, I was not, nor have I ever been, a love sick teenager, and I did not mope."

"Look at what you just wrote genius. You sound like a bad romance novel."

"Wha-? I do-oh, what do you know?"

'Snort' "What are you four? Now, gimme that!"

"Humph, stupid sister doesn't know a single thing even if she did graduate top of her class."

* * *

Cal

(Because Charlie just sat there moping - Ow! Don't hit me!)

You probably don't know this, but besides sounding like a two year old named it, a Say-so has two parts; a transmitter and a receptor. For amazingly confusing technical reasons that would take much, much too long to explain, the transmitter is the only removable piece; the receptor can only be neutralized with a combination of a special injection and small bursts of certain radio waves.

Given the name, I bet you guessed that the transmitter transmits. It takes whatever the host sees, hears, and thinks and sends it back to the operator. This piece also influences the poor unfortunate soul the Whitecoats stuck it in and makes them do whatever the heck the operator wants, from random singing to dancing in a busy street. I personally think that it is the more dangerous of the two, because while its partner, the receptor, creates the voice that the host hears, it can't send or collect information.

I concentrated as I made the first incision. My co-workers, Molly and Trey stood nearby, ready to do their part, while my brother stood on the other side of the skinny table, still holding Liela's hand. Sheesh, he avoids any emotional response and situation since he was born and now he won't let go of his "girlfriend's" hand. He can be so gosh darn hard to understand sometimes that it makes me dizzy.

I pulled the scalpel swiftly down Liela's back and in between her shoulder blades between her wings, leaving a clean incision that intercepted a myriad of other fine lined scars.

Now I know you know what a Say-so is, given you're probable experience with my mom and her books, but what you may not realize is that my mom's voice did not behave like all its classmates. I bet they teased it on the playground and I know for certain that they hated it. Shortly after the Whitecoats planted their new invention inside my mother, someone, and we still don't know who, hijacked the equipment that let them speak directly into Mom's brain. The Voice, as Mom usually referred to it, did not come from the School, but as far as we know, it didn't come from a friend either.

You see, the Director created Say-so's as a kind of remote control for wayward mutants (which kind of explains why the put on in my mom, if they had controlled her then there's no telling what they would've done to her and the flock). They stick a duet of chips in you - the receptor followed by the transmitter - and then someone on the other end of a microphone starts integrating themselves into your mind, sounding like some kind of schizophrenic hallucination straight out of your worst nightmare. It's almost like they use a kind of hypnotism to lure you into listening to them, but once they persuade you into doing their dirty work there's no going back and you're basically stuck as an unwilling, flesh and blood puppet. I've heard awful horror stories about people killing their friends and family because of a Say-so. The heartbreaking part is that even though the Say-so controls their actions, the victims are fully conscious to what they're doing; but they still can't stop themselves.

And I am not going to let that happen to one of my friends.

With Molly holding back the surface layer of skin I could see the dull, wet shine of metal winking mischievously at me from in between muscles and bones. Ever so carefully I maneuvered a small pair of forceps through the soft tissue. I have to say I do not envy the aches and pains Liela will feel for the next two or three days. As low risk as this surgery is (well, low risk as long as the transmitter doesn't explode or something like that, some people have had problems with that) it didn't change the fact that surgery at its basic level still means that one, albeit highly trained, person cuts into another, usually not trained, person and roots around in their body until they find the problem and, hopefully, remove it.

I clamped the forceps down on the small square of metal and silicon. Fortunately for all of us there, it did not spontaneously combust. Instead it came free relatively easily, making me think even more that the Whitecoats had implanted the Say-so fairly recently. Maybe this explained how the Director's cronies had found Charlie, Liela, and Aaron before Liela brought my brother here with blood and feathers falling down the back of his shirt, although that theory still had some holes. Just because the person doesn't speak through the transmitter doesn't mean that the receptor isn't doing its job. For all we know, the voice kept an eye on Liela and the others ever since the Whitecoats had inserted it.

The transmitter clanked when I dropped it in the metal tray sitting next to me on a small table holding instruments. "There," I said through my green face mask before setting down the forceps and grabbing the needle and thread. Quickly but efficiently I stitched the cut closed and secured the line.

"Finished," I announced to the others around me. "Now we just need to shut down the receptor." I said as Molly handed me a syringe filled with a bluish tinted liquid known as Asarochima. While I dealt with the liquid that would essentially freeze the receptor long enough to knock it out with several short bursts of radio waves, Trey fussed with the 3-DVH, the machine that pinpointed the elusive receptor and focused the radio waves on it, making sure that it continued to run smoothly and that the settings he had punched in earlier were still correct.

"You ready?" I asked him, holding the needle with Asarochima poised over the inside of Liela's elbow, where most people drew blood from.

He nodded positioning the 3-DVH so that when the bluish syrup took effect he wouldn't have to waste time by moving the lanky machine. Because the Asarochima only froze the receptor and didn't destroy it, we only had a limited amount of time before it wore off, rendering the wave lengths from the 3-DVH useless. And it isn't like we have a crate load of this stuff on hand you know. Asarochima is pretty pricey stuff, besides, if we had a lot sitting around the clinic, the Director would find out. It's not exactly like _she _needs the stuff. Only the rebels use it.

"Okay," I warned Trey, "here goes." I pushed the needle under Liela's skin and pushed the plunger down, sending the liquid into her veins. As soon as I took the needle out, the 3-DVH started beeping madly and Trey began pushing buttons in a hurry. Soon he pushed the magic button on the machine's head that sent out the waves that ruined the receptor.

After a few more sporadic bursts of beeping, the machine's whirr lessened and then stopped, its job done.

Molly checked a nearby computer monitor. "That's it; the receptor's signals have stopped."

I nodded, thankful. "Good. We're done then. Hey Charlie, will you take Liela back to one of the recovery rooms while we get cleaned up here?"

Charlie nodded disentangling his hand from Liela's. "Sure, but I don't have to do anything else do I? No needles or IVs or monitors right?" He asked his eyes widening at the thought of sharp pointy objects and beeping TV screens.

I rolled my eyes at him. "No you big chicken now move so I can get to the sink."

Charlie glared at me, acting more like his old bratty self by the minute, but he stood and pulled Liela's bed with him out the door anyway.

As I washed my hands, making sure to clean the dust from the gloves out from under my fingernails too, Tray messed with the 3-DVH making sure it shut down properly while Molly fussed with the dirty instruments, getting ready to clean them in boiling hot water.

Once my hands no longer had dust or specks of blood covering them, I walked briskly down the hall, wiping my clean hands dry on my jeans. The third door down on the right still stood open and I walked in without hesitation. Charlie had resumed his place sitting next to Liela on the bed and he kept looking at her with the most un-Charlie like look on his face. He looked up when I entered and I saw he had Liela's hand held hostage again. I had always known my brother took his promises seriously, but I guess I had never realized how seriously until then, especially when they involved his friends.

He looked up when I entered, his incredibly dark eyes locking on my own. "She'll wake in about an hour and a half, maybe a little longer." I informed him crossing the room in three steps to come stand by both him and the sleeping Liela. In an almost hurried fashion I placed the IV Charlie had avoided and placed two electrodes high up on Liela's chest, wanting to make sure her bodily functions, like her heart, hadn't changed for the worst. I had not realized how nervous I was until I sat down on the edge of the bed near Liela's legs with nothing else to busy myself with.

My brother looked up at me again and saw my almost fidgety state. "What's up?" He asked. "Is everything all right?"

A quick glance at Liela accompanied that one and I reassured him. "Yeah, Liela's going to be fine. Everything's normal and she's fine."

He only gave me a weird look. I usually didn't talk like that as you may have noticed, and apparently it only helped him see that something was bugging me.

"Well?" He asked turning more towards me on the bed.

I sighed. After thinking about it all night I still didn't know what to say. But I couldn't let that stop me from brining the subject up.

"I talked to Jack before I left last night." I said by way of introduction. Charlie only stared at me, confusion all over his face. "About the wings." I told him starting to get frustrated by this whole thing.

Understanding dawned on his face. "Oh, right. Wings." He said nodding his head as he remembered our conversation after Jack and Aimee's fight. "Did you two come to a decision then?"

I nodded. "Yes, he told me, most forcefully I might add," my mouth quirking into a smile at that memory, "that he wants to grow out his wings."

Charlie nodded growing thoughtful. "Okay." He said. "I can explain the basic idea, but you're going to have to talk to Mom about the detailed biological-chemical-sciency stuff. She told me how that worked a while ago but it didn't stick to well." He admitted half-heartedly.

I smirked. "You zoned out didn't you?"

He got that stubborn set to his face that meant I was right, but didn't bother denying it. Instead he skipped that potentially embarrassing part of the conversation and dove right into the explanation. "The basic idea is that you take somebody who already has a fundamental bird base, like any wingless avian-human hybrid, and encourage the growth of their wings with something else, chemicals and stuff I guess, that is the part I don't quite understand. I'm just going to take a wild guess and say that the Dictator didn't want fully fledged wings on her pet birds, yeah?"

I felt my mouth twist into a frown before I nodded. "Yes, her goal was to see if she could grow wings on a clipped bird kid at all, but they didn't bother to hide the fact they would only grow about half as big as yours, so they couldn't fly away." I told him as another thought occurred to me. "Hey, how do you know this will work at all? It's not like you know an abundance of clipped bird people that will go against the Director for a pair of fancy shoulder blade extensions."

Charlie smiled at me like I didn't know what I was talking about and I frowned a little more. "Well we don't exactly know who came up with this experiment-"

He didn't get much farther than that. "What!?" I yelled. "You were just going to let me try this out on Jack without knowing what kind of side effects it could lead to or if he'll even live through it?!"

Charlie only smiled wider and dared to laugh at me. "No," he said with a snigger. "It works very well as you very well know."

"Wh-" I tried to ask.

He nodded at Liela who now slept peacefully on the bed next to us. "Jeb and his mysterious partner did that to turn Liela into a fully fledged bird girl. Mom can tell you in a more detailed, scientificy way of what they did, but you know the end result."

I nodded. Wings. Flight. The fulfillment of every person's dream, including mine.

"How long will it take?" I asked ignoring my deepest and most forbidden dream. I was not allowed to fly; it was the trade off I made for living a semi-normal life unlike Charlie and Liela who used their ability of flight to run from dangerous robots and fatal experiments.

Sometimes I wondered if they knew how lucky they had it.

I shook those thoughts away and tried to concentrate on Jack and the problem at hand, his wings, not mine.

Charlie shrugged. "Months," he answered, "Mom said the time will probably differ between patients, but for Liela it only took six months after whoever-it-was let her out of their lab. But it could have been longer than that because we really don't know how long she was trapped there."

I nodded, thinking. If we did this within the next week, we could probably convince the Director that Jack's wings had only bloomed late, but beyond that we would be pushing it.

"So we'll have to do this soon." I said thinking out loud.

"Well you can if you want, but you don't really have to." Charlie said wondering what the heck I was talking about.

I felt my face turn red. "I wasn't talking to you idiot. I was thinking out loud."

Charlie smiled widely at me, looking like he was about to make some smart mouth remark.

"Don't say anything." I warned him using that same tone I had used when we were younger and he was about to drop a worm into my hair. It worked as beautifully now as it did then and my wonderful baby brother shut up like a clam.

"So," I started thinking out loud again, now that Charlie would hold his tongue. "Because Liela had the beginnings of an avian hybrid, Jeb and his partner were able to grow out her wings. Wait, I thought both her parents were human? Where'd she get the bird DNA?"

Charlie shrugged. "The Dictator put her mother into a case study when she was pregnant with Liela. They thought it didn't work on her and basically wrote her off as a dud, but apparently the stuff they used had enough of an effect to make our friend less then human and just a teensy bit bird."

"So she lived through the experiment." I mused.

"So she lived." Charlie concluded.

I stood up abruptly, needing to move so I could think better. "Thanks Charlie. Tell me when Liela wakes up." I mumbled before pacing out of the room. I had to talk to Jack again before I made any commitment.

I found him exactly where I expected him to be, in the TV room playing a video game with Matthew while Timothy stood over his brother's shoulder cheering him on.

I waited for them to finish their race before speaking up. "Hey Jack," I called getting his attention. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He nodded, handing his controller to Timmy before coming out into the hall with me.

"Look, if this is about the whole paint incident, all I have to say is that it is not my fault. She's the one who said she wanted red hair." He shot off before I had a chance to speak.

"No, I wanted to talk to you about your feathers." I said before what he said had a chance to sink in. "But, wait a minute. What paint incident? Who wanted red hair?" I demanded realizing what he had just confessed.

Jack looked like he wished he was mute. "N-nothing," he stuttered trying to look innocent. "I w-was just kidding. What were you going to say about my wings?" He changed the subject suddenly hopeful.

I sighed. I would save the paint for later. "Charlie told me how we can grow out your wings. I think it's definitely plausible with a good chance of succeeding without killing you in the process but," I paused for emphasis, "if we do this the Director will most definitely notice you. It'll mean more studies and more experiments whether you want them or not. She won't just let you fly off somewhere and leave you alone."

Jack scowled at me. "No duh Cal. She's the Director, if she had her way no one would ever fly. And I don't have a choice in these rotten tests anyway. What's so special about more of them with the same rules? If I'm going to be stuck in this stupid experiment mess than I at least want to fly no matter what kind of tests they put me through."

I sighed. He still didn't quite understand the kinds of deeds the Director was capable of and more then willing to commit. I shouldn't have been surprised; he had only known the experiments that she kept in the public eye so they wouldn't start sniffing out her other atrocities. "Look Jack," I said ready to make him understand whether he wanted to or not.

"No!" He yelled uncharacteristically. "No I don't care what you say or what the Director does! I want to fly and I'm going to now even if you don't like it. I'll get Dr. Martinez to do it if I have to. But I'm going to fly." He suddenly realized that he had shouted at me and he avoided my shocked look by turning his eyes toward the floor. "I just want to fly." He mumbled to his shoes.

So did I.

I sighed as I led him somewhere more private so we could talk.

* * *

The little brown book all of us have written this story in just sat on the table. Cal had left it there when she went to the bathroom.

I looked to the left.

Then I looked to the right.

All clear.

I grabbed the book and wrote fast before my sister came back.

* * *

"Sneaky" Charlie

I sat in the small white room not sure what to do. Liela, now safe and sound, still slept soundly on the bed next to me while I sat in a chair, my head propped up on my fist.

I slight moan shook me out of my thoughts and I took my feet off the bed as I sat up. Liela moved again with a slight sound. Then she opened her blue eyes and stared confusedly at the plain ceiling above her.

"Liela?" I asked, gently squeezing her hand, you know, to let her know I hadn't left her.

She turned her head and stared at me a moment too. "Charlie?" Her voice sounded raspy like thin paper in the wind, probably because of all the screaming she had done this morning.

"Yeah?" I asked. She only closed her eyes again and groaned. "What's the matter? Is the voice still there?" I asked horrified. Cal told me that the receptor wouldn't work anymore.

Liela only lay there looking like something pained her, but she didn't make another sound.

"Are you okay? On a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt?" I didn't know what the scale of ten was supposed to do, still don't actually. I had just heard various doctors, including my sister and Mom, ask that question whenever their patients woke up from surgery.

Liela groaned again. "I don't do numbers." She muttered weakly.

I don't do numbers? I'd have to remind her of that when she was fully conscious. Who _did_ numbers at all?

"O-kay." I said wondering if I should go get Cal. But Liela's face relaxed again, which I took to mean that at least most of the pain had faded again.

Without thinking I reached over and swept stray strands of her hair back from her forehead. I think she sighed, or maybe she just exhaled, but she relaxed even more and her breathing evened out, slow and deep. She had fallen right back asleep.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, not talking about my impromptu touch.

She giggled a very little. "I forgive you." She said unbelievably quiet.

I pulled my hand back from her head, slightly embarrassed. "You tricked me. I though you fell asleep." I said slightly shocked. Liela didn't like April Fools Day for a reason. But she stayed quiet, really asleep now.

Briefly, I wondered if that short blip of awareness meant I should go tell Cal she had woken up (for like, two minutes), but decided not to bug her in the end. Besides, Liela still had a death grip on my hand.

I leaned back in the chair to wait some more. She would wake up eventually, good as, well not new, but good as she'd ever been. I would apologize again later since I wasn't sure she would remember this episode, but I was still glad I'd told her now.

* * *

I finished writing about the numbers and slid the book back onto the table before crawling out of the room again. There, just try and keep me from writing my view Cal. I'll only fill your chapters with Charlie spots whether you like it or not.

So ha ha. Charlie: 1, Cal: 0.

"Sneaky" Charlie out.

* * *

Cal

(And not her goofus brother)

About an hour later I made my way back towards the room where Liela lay. I assumed Charlie had stayed there as well since I hadn't seen him since I left after our talk. I wasn't sure though, he had stayed with Liela almost since the moment Mel and Wanda had woken him up and, well, I mean he had to go the bathroom sometime right?

Little girl giggles drifted out of the room as I walked down the hall. I slowed down and peered through the open door to see both girls sitting on the bed with Liela, who now sat up with the pillows stuffed behind her back to prop her up.

I smiled at the children. "Who let you in here? I thought visiting hours didn't start till after lunch."

"Hi Cal." Both girls said in unison and waved at me from their seats.

I turned towards Charlie who now sat in a chair by the bed. "I thought I told you to tell me when she woke up?" I demanded.

"I tried, but Liela didn't want me to leave and they wouldn't go get you for me." He gestured to Mel and Wanda. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liela's face blush pink, but Charlie didn't notice and just went on talking. "I even said please and everything didn't I Wanderer?"

The little girl got a stubborn look on her face and propped her hands on her hips, looking about as imposing as any other four year old. "My name's not Wanderer." She informed my brother. "It's Wanda, like in the aliem book."

Charlie looked confused. "What alien book?" He asked looking over at me.

"The Host by Stephenie Meyer." I told him going over to see how Liela was doing.

Liela looked shocked. "You read them The Host?"

"Isn't she the one that wrote those Tinna books?" Charlie asked having no clue as to who I was talking about and therefore resorted to blind guesses.

The look Liela gave him was priceless. "No," She told him. "She wrote the Twilight books," and when that didn't get a decent reaction she sighed and said, "She wrote the vampire books."

Charlie's eyes lit up. "Oh you mean the ones with, what's their names, Della and Edwin yeah?"

Liela sighed and I couldn't keep back the laugh. "Yes, Charlie, that's them." I told him. "And I didn't read them to the girls, Molly did." I told Liela.

"What book was I thinking of?" Charlie asked unable to let the subject drop.

"Tinna's Promise by Miranda _Mayer_. I read it when I still lived with Mom." I told him not giving him my full attention. "Now how are you feeling Liela?"

She shrugged her shoulders and winced. "Fine." She told me shortly. "I don't hear anything I shouldn't. Is the transmitter gone?" She said looking hopeful.

I nodded with a smile. "Yep and that receptor won't be speaking anymore either, so you've got nothing to worry about," I paused. "Well, nothing besides the normal anyway."

Her mouth twitched upward in a smile.

Now for the bad news. "However I wouldn't suggest flying for two or three days, although four or five would be better. I'm pretty sure you don't want to break your stitches. Besides you should rest and recover anyway so don't worry about flying so much. Other then that, the two of you are still welcome to stay here."

Liela looked like she was about to cry.

"You mean I can't fly?" She asked miserably.

"Only for a few days that's all." I reassured her not wanting a slew of tears to top off this all around amazing day.

Charlie whistled. "Well that stinks, too bad for you."

I glared down at him, glad I didn't have to look up since he was still sitting. I may have bird genes, but that doesn't change the fact that even normal teenage boys grow like weeds and they don't stop until their mid twenties. Even us bird girls only grow upwards until our late teens, and then we want to stop because it only goes out from there. So unfair, I know.

I stepped over to him and gripped his right shoulder, which was still wrapped in white bandages. "May I remind you that _you _aren't allowed to fly either since I recently removed the bullet that made a tiny tunnel through your wing and shoulder? Liela may in fact be flying before you. Her wings aren't damaged at all; she only has to deal with stitches."

Charlie sucked in air when I pinched just above his bullet wound. "Ow, Ow, OW! Dang it Cal let go!" He yelped, pulling at my hand to get me to let go.

"Oh don't be such a baby." I told him stepping back. "I know you've felt worse so stop shrieking."

Charlie rubbed at his shoulder. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to feel pain any more than I have to. Sheesh Cal that hurt. I thought you were supposed to help people not harm them."

I didn't answer him. The distant ring of the doorbell had caught my attention and I listened for who was paying us a visit. "Be quiet!" I hissed at my brother as I strained to listen. If an inspector from the Director had come than I only had a few minutes to hide Charlie and Liela and erase any evidence of their presence before the noisy spy came back to search and inspect the rooms. If I was lucky then Molly and the other kids could distract the inspector, giving me more time.

A subtle, insect like chirp regained my attention and I looked down to see Wanda's paper thin grasshopper wings extended a little from her arms where they usually lay unnoticed.

Charlie saw them too. "I thought only male grasshoppers chirped?" He asked either not realizing the danger of the situation or otherwise refusing to acknowledge it.

I couldn't keep my eyes from rolling anyway. "It's genetic manipulation genius; they changed the rules."

I tried to smile reassuringly at the somewhat frightened children. "Why don't you go see who's at the door girls?" I suggested to Mel and Wanda. Mel at least knew what to do and she grabbed her sister's hand and dashed towards the front of my clinic, explaining quietly on the way that Wanda couldn't mention Charlie and Liela at all if it a stranger had come to visit.

"Come on, you can hide in the storage room." I said as Charlie helped me get Liela to her feet. The drugs I had given her and the surgery itself still had her off balance and she wobbled on her weak legs.

Then someone screamed in the front room and my heart almost stopped. But Charlie had better ears and managed to make out what Mel and Wanda were saying before I slammed both him and Liela into the closet instead of the storage room, which was farther away.

"It's Taylor." He told me, taking the majority of Liela's weight and setting her back on the bed.

_Taylor? _I thought, heading to the front where all the commotion was. _What's he doing here?_

But sure enough, my husband stood in the front room, surrounded by excited kids and holding Wanda on his hip.

He saw me and smiled even wider. "Hey honey, how're things going?" He said putting Wanda down and coming over to wrap me in a hug and kiss me hello.

"Fine," I said. "Liela had a Say-so, but we got rid of it."

"So boring day?" He asked, teasing.

I shrugged. "Yeah pretty much."

He smiled, but didn't laugh like I thought he would. "Is she up yet? I need to talk to her and Charlie."

My forehead wrinkled as my eyebrows came together in curiosity. What was so important that he had to tell them right after Liela's surgery?

"Yeah, she just woke up a little while ago. Is something wrong?"

He shrugged and I became aware that we were still surrounded by a bunch of children. "Not really." He said, not elaborating.

"Okay, well they're back this way." I told him, taking his hand and leading him towards the back rooms.

Charlie and Liela were still where I left them, although Charlie had retaken his seat on the bed, closer to Liela.

"Hey," Taylor said waving at the two of them in his usual jovial manner as he and I entered the room. "It looks like you two have been having a good time. How did the surgery go?"

"Good." Liela said looking up. "At least, that's what they told me, so I assume I'm not about to kill the lot of you against my will."

Taylor nodded as he took a seat across from the two of them. "That would put a damper on things around here."

The four of us fell silent, Charlie and Liela probably wondering what Taylor wanted while Taylor stared at the floor in thought. I just stood there by the door waiting for someone to speak. I wanted to know what the heck was going on.

"Well?" Charlie asked, tired of the silence. "I assume you didn't come here just to make sure that we got the Say-so out. Cal could've told you that when she went home. What do you want?" He asked with a slight frown at his brother-in-law.

Taylor sighed, his smile disappearing. "I fixed the toaster." He said as if fixing the machine that kept us in contact with the rebellion equaled bad news. "The Phoenix sent us a message to pass on to you. They've found Aaron's sister, Rebecca. She's alive."

* * *

Hey, besides reminding people to review, I'm also on the search for music. Is there any song that you think of for the story or people or maybe just a particular scene? Message me if there is and there's a chance that it might end up in a playlist.

Thanks, see ya later.

Rose


	19. Chapter 18: I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat!

After Armageddon

Chapter Eighteen: I Tawt I Taw A Putty Tat!

(And something to do with peanut butter and unicorns...)

Charlie

"Charlieee," Liela called behind me in a funny, high pitched voice. "Charlieeee. We're on a bridge Charliee."

Yes, I know what she's quoting. My cousin Will showed me the ridiculous Charlie the Unicorn videos the last time I had seen him at Mom's house. I thought them beyond stupid, but Liela, Aaron, and Will had cracked up and they hadn't stopped mimicking the dumb, multi-colored horses for the next week. I felt relieved when they finally stopped.

To my horror it had started again.

I ignored Liela as I crawled forward across the termite infested planks at a pace that would have made a snail look like a galloping horse.

Liela laughed again at my insecurity. "Come on Charlie, you're blocking traffic."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered darkly. "Unlike the rest of us you can fly again."

This may surprise you, but without the ability to fly, I don't really like extremely high places, like sky needles, or the Grand Canyon, or the rickety bridge Liela and I currently stood on. The real, solid, ground lay beneath me, several thousand billion miles beneath me actually.

Liela however, thought it funny to laugh at me and shake the amazingly unsteady bridge we were crossing the hard way; on foot.

"If you're in such a hurry why don't you fly across?" I hissed between my teeth as the old rope connecting the feeble wooden planks together creaked frighteningly, making my stress level shoot up to a fifteen.

Here's the deal, the two of us left my sister's place a week ago. Fortunately for us, the Phoenix had included directions to the people that had information on where to find Aaron's long lost sister, Rebecca. Unfortunately, since Cal had forbidden the both of us from flying until we healed, we had set off on foot, hence why a week had passed and we were still no where near the lake where our informants lived. Ugh. I know, the fact that I listened to my older sister may shock some of you, but let's just say that I tried flying a few days ago, when Liela finally recovered the full use of her own wings, and it didn't turn out well.

Not well at all.

The bridge creaked and wobbled again, more than before. I turned around irritated. "Will you cut that out Liela?" I snapped at her, but stopped when I saw her plummet over the side of the old bridge.

"Liela?!" I called out. What had hit her? I hadn't heard any guns firing or bullets whizzing past my head.

She fell head first alarming fast; well, even more alarming than usual. I couldn't move as I watched her plummet towards the far off ground.

Then wham! She spread her wings and caught the air with a vengeance; soaring upward passing my head fast enough that the wind created from her sudden flight hurt my eyes. I closed them, gripping the frail rope railing as if I was afraid I'd fall off.

But I wasn't. Nope, not even in the slightest.

I heard Liela laugh wildly about eighteen feet above my head. Yes, the power of flight is a brilliant and powerful thing. It makes people feel blissfully happy even in this incredibly imperfect world.

I stopped crawling long enough to watch Liela do a triple axel without a solid ground beneath her, using her wings for lift so she could spin three times in succession. She had told me before that only two female skaters had ever gotten through the thing successfully, but I'd forgotten their names the minute I heard them.

So how'd I know the name of the-whatever-it-was she kept doing? It was all Liela's fault. Every winter she begged to go to somewhere with frozen water so she could skate on it. Then she kept forcing the names of all her fancy spins and flips and stuff into my head so that I wouldn't ever forget. Ever.

And I mean EVER.

I tore my eyes off of Liela the Top and looked at where I put my feet. Honestly I didn't know what felt worse; looking up and increasing the chance that my foot would plunge through a crack in the wooden planks or looking down at the five bazillion feet between me and ground.

Somehow, and I'm not sure how because all I remember is decrepit rotting wood and the intense feeling that I was about to die, I made it across the awful nightmare and collapsed to the ground and finally remembered how to breathe.

A muffled shuffle of feathers and cloth from my left told me that Liela had landed.

"Are you okay Charlie?" She asked. "You know I was only kidding right? Charlie?" She asked more tentatively as she came and poked my shoulder to make sure I was still alive. I didn't feel too positive about that yet myself.

But I grabbed her wrist and pulled her down anyway. She shrieked like, well, a girl especially when I rolled over and started tickling her sides. Her ticklishness turned out to be a wonderful weakness that Aaron and I had exploited when we were younger. Liela turned into a shrieking, giggle-girl whenever someone even poked her. As a bonus she twitched after that whenever you even pretended to poke her. We didn't even have to touch her after the first wave.

Of course then she put pink hair dye in our shampoo and that put a stop to that kind of behavior.

But at the moment we lay on the ground miles away from any tub much less any shampoo and hair dye. Although I guess the fact that we wouldn't have the chance to bathe in another few days was kind of gross when I thought about it, so I concentrated on tickling Liela who continued to giggle like a five year old.

"Sto-st-stop!" She begged still laughing. "Y-you're chea-cheating!"

I managed to laugh too. "Well that's what you get for making fun of me." I told her, easing up on the tickling.

My first mistake. She threw me off her and sat on my back to make sure I didn't go anywhere. Then she began to torture me.

Just to let you know, it feels really, really, **really** weird to have people mess with your feathers. Air gets in between them and they get all messed up and lumpy like a bad hotel pillow. Although it feels kind of like tickling too, except without the tickling part. Oh, it's kind of like ripping off a band-aid that you've had on for like four or five days. It hurts, but in a tingling good way.

Liela knew what it felt like though, which probably explained why she kept doing it. She ruffled through the lower part of my wings, thankfully keeping away from my bullet hole, fluffing them up like she was scratching a well loved, old dog.

It felt weeeeird.

"No no wait st-stop!" I said laughing and beating my hands against the ground like a little kid.

"Serves you right!" She told me with one last tickle-scratch before leaning over and getting off me.

I stood up trying to sift my feathers back into their proper places. Only it's kind of like trying to scratch that unreachable spot on your back.

Liela laughed again, still sounding a little breathless. "Here," She said from behind me. "Let me help."

I jumped a little when I felt her fingers running through my wings again. It still felt weird, but not like before. Patiently she raked her fingers down, sorting out feathers and putting things back in order.

"Oh, ack, eeeee." I yelped twisting and wriggling when she got down near the bottom like people do when you scratch their back _real _good.

I heard Liela snort as she stepped back enough for me to stretch my wings out and shake them out. My ever annoying bullet wound pinched a little, but it didn't feel nearly as bad as it had a week ago, or even two days ago.

I turned around and smiled at Liela. "Much better." I told her. "Hardly even hurt that time."

"You think you'll be able to fly soon?" Liela asked folding her hands under her arms. She did a good job of hiding her hopefulness. She was most defiantly getting better at it.

"Sure, I think so. Maybe I'll try flying again later today." I said walking again.

"Tomorrow." She said, sounding like a Cal in training as she caught up with me.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine tomorrow."

********

We didn't stop that night until we couldn't see half a foot in front of our noses. The sun had left hours ago and the fire we had started gave off the only light for miles.

I sat next to it to keep warm, feeling muscles I didn't even know I owned burn down my legs and through my feet. I had never realized that the stupid things could hurt this badly.

"Oh my gosh." I groaned leaning back, trying not to move my lower appendages. "How come you're not moaning in agony?" I asked Liela who sat not a foot away from me staring at the fire with her knees drawn up against her chest. She had gotten quieter as the day worn on. After the bridge fight we had talked a little, but near evening when we had hit the rocky downward slope, she had clamed up. I hadn't said much either, we both needed to concentrate on the loose rocks that threatened to trip us and send us falling down the steep hill. The climb had reduced my muscles to aching mush and I hadn't thought about much else since. Mainly because I couldn't even twitch my pinky toe without feeling like it would pop off.

Liela looked up at me but otherwise didn't move. "Ice skating has other advantages besides the outfits." She told me before looking back at the flickering fire.

It didn't take a genius to realize that she was thinking about something important, bordering on contemplating actually. It **did** take a genius to figure out how to ask her what was bugging her without stepping on her pain free toes.

My well used muscles started cramping and I had to move my legs or get used to walking on my hands. Stupid ice skating muscles that let Liela move without feeling like her legs were going to burst into flames.

I heard Liela sigh over my grunting and I saw her bury her head in her arms.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. Okay, so maybe I'm not a genius, but at least I get to point right?

"Nothing." Her muffled voice drifted out of her arms.

"Liar." I thought.

Her head snapped up and she glared at me.

Not a good sign. "That came out my mouth didn't it?" I asked wondering if I could still outrun her. I shifted my legs and found the chances to be very slim. Like nonexistent slim.

"What?" She demanded angrily. Hey, at least she wasn't brooding anymore.

Might as well stick to the whole get to the point thing.

"Something's bugging you. You're not talking or smiling like you usually do. Even four nights ago, when you got sick from that meatloaf Cal packed for us, you looked better then this."

"Hey, its not my fault I threw up, she cooked it herself."

I shrugged. "True, now don't change the subject. What's up?"

Liela's face changed from defensive and angry to sad and...hurt. She put her head down again and refused to look at me. Oh man, I hadn't done anything had I?

"I miss Aaron."

Silence. I didn't know what to say to that. I still felt like the whole mess was my entire fault.

"Yeah," I said. "Me too."

"It's not fair." She mumbled.

I hung my head. "I know."

"If he had-if he had lived he would have heard about Rebecca." She lifted her face out of her arms again and I saw tears running down her cheeks in the firelight. I wanted to reach out and wipe them away. She shouldn't have to cry. But I didn't move, afraid she would flip out. After all, this wasn't the same as before when I moved her hair out of her face. She wasn't just out of surgery and I didn't have to fear for her life. Well, outside the normal fear anyway.

She sobbed and the tears ran freer. It was strange to remember that I had felt so mad at her before. "He was so close to hearing Rebecca's still alive."

If she said anything else after that I couldn't understand it through her sobs. Hesitantly, and somewhat self consciously I might add, I reached over and wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders. She didn't mind like I thought she would. Instead she leaned into my shoulder, crying into my shirt. She kept saying, "It's not fair," over and over again in between other things I couldn't quite understand.

"I-it's al-all my f-fa-fault." She stuttered burying her face against my shoulder more. "I sh-should ha-ve gone back for him no ma-matter what yo-u said. I co-could've sa-aved him."

"No." I told her. "No you would've just been captured or killed. And it is not your fault. If it's anyone's fault it's Fudd's and the Director's. Although I didn't help much." I mumbled the last part.

She finally looked up. Her face and eyes had turned red and saltwater covered her cheeks and nose. "How could it be your fault Charlie?" she asked thickly but coherently. "You didn't do anything."

"That's the problem. I didn't do a single thing to help." Maybe if I had just gotten up and thought of something, anything, I could've saved him.

"You had a bullet in your shoulder. You couldn't even fly. If it's not my fault then it certainly can't be your fault." Liela told me sitting up a little so she could actually look at me.

"But that's what I'm supposed to do. _I'm_ supposed to keep us out of danger. _I'm _supposed to keep everyone else safe. _I'm _supposed to save my friends when they're in trouble. If I can't do that then the Dictator wins. Because I couldn't-didn't-get up and do something, my best friend died." I finished spilling my guts and looked at Liela, wondering what she was thinking.

She hit me.

"Ow! What was that for?" I demanded holding my arm. I tell her I failed and she hits me? Are you serious?

"Aaron is, was," she amended tearing up again, "an adult even if he didn't act like one half the time. He knew how to take care of himself. And so do I. I'm a big girl Charlie. I don't need your protection. I just, sometimes, need your help." She admitted sounding more like the Liela I knew.

Then she sobered again. "And I guess, maybe he knew what he was doing there too." She mumbled, thinking, not sure if she was right.

I swallowed hard. "Yeah, maybe he did." I laughed weakly. "It would be just like him to do something rash and leave us to deal with the mess afterward."

Liela's mouth twitched, but she didn't really smile. She leaned back against me and we both stared at the fire silently, both absorbed in our own thoughts.

"Charlie?" Liela whispered after a few minutes. "Do you think they have peanut butter in heaven?"

I snorted a laugh. "If they don't, he's going to be mad."

I felt more then heard Liela's feeble laugh.

The fire flickered and popped.

"Charlie?" Liela asked even more softly than before. "There's something I haven't told you yet."

She didn't say anything else so I asked. "What?"

She stuttered something then stopped. I started to get anxious.

She tried again. "Aaron's body was gone when I looked out the window again."

"What?!" I couldn't stop the word from exploding from my throat. Those scumbags had taken his body? "I thought you burned it or buried it or something." I told her. "They took his body?"

She nodded, refusing to look at me.

"I'm sorry." She said hoarsely like she might cry again.

"No," I said hugging her without thinking about it. "No, you-how could they?" I couldn't finish my first sentence. "What did they want with his body?" I asked not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

Liela's hair got on my face when she shook her head. "I don't know."

********

A bird's startled screech woke me up the next morning. The fire from last night had burned itself out sometime in the middle of the night and the blackened ashes didn't even smoke anymore. Despite that I felt warm, almost hot. Summer must be coming earlier then last year.

Oh. No, I realized when I looked down. Liela still lay on me from last night. I guess both of us felt more exhausted then I thought.

Gently, so I didn't wake her, I pushed her off me and onto the sparse ground. She didn't even twitch.

SNAP!

I froze instantly. That noise hadn't come from a bird.

I turned my head carefully, inspecting the early morning shadows for anything that didn't belong. But I only saw trees, skinny bushes, and a squirrel standing as still as me.

Then he went back to his nuts.

The noise must have come from another harmless animal or the squirrel would still be standing stock still.

Of course, I was basing my safety evaluation on a small rodent that couldn't even remember where he hid his nuts each fall.

"Liela," I whispered firmly, shaking her shoulder to get her up. "Liela we have to go."

She tiredly shoved at my hand and muttered something that either sounded like, "The pens sore in it," or, "Ten more minutes." We didn't have any pens so I figured she just wanted more sleep.

"Come on Liela. If we leave now we'll get there by late afternoon." I made sure to keep our destination vague, just in case the squirrel was wrong. But who was I kidding; after all, squirrels are known all over the world for their prey evasion skills. Ha!

"Nooooooo." She whined rolling over.

Another snap echoed out of the forest.

"Liela we have to leave now." I said forcefully hoping she had heard it too. "Or we'll be late."

She sat up looking groggy and exhausted, but her blues eyes met mine and I knew she knew something sat outside our view in the trees.

"Fine." She said sounding grumpy for the benefit of whomever, or whatever, stalked us.

We were ready in less then five minutes. Of course we only had one set of clothes each and a backpack and a half of food. So that might explain things. Quickly, we set off across the rocky landscape, steadily putting distance between us and _it_.

"It was probably just a cat." I said after a quick scan behind us to see if anything followed us. Nothing did. "Or some kind of dog."

Liela looked around too. "Yeah, hopefully." She pointed out across the sea of rocks at a cluster of hills and valleys on the other side. "The place we want should be over that way. It's probably only a couple hours walk, longer if you walk as slow as yesterday." She said smiling cheekily at me.

"I hate walking." I grumbled my muscles already reminding me of their overuse from yesterday.

Liela laughed. "Maybe you can fly again." She said still smiling.

"Maybe." I admitted. "But I don't want to try over all these sharp pointy rocks. If I can't fly I don't want a dozen knew scrapes. My collection is overflowing as it is."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She said ruefully rubbing a new bruise on her forearm she had gotten yesterday from one springy tree or another.

"Maybe they'll have some kind of bruise cream at this TV Station." I said rubbing my own unwelcome scrapes and bruises. Don't ask about the funny name. I don't know. Each safe house has their own unique, and rather strange, code name. Supposedly they have to do with something about the actual house, like one time I stayed in a place called the Sandtrap. It lay almost thirty miles beneath the surface under a grassy meadow miles away from any kind of sand at all. But in the middle of the cavern's main room stood a large, and quite honestly very scary, plastic statue of a smiling man wearing a plaid skirt who used to live in some mini golf course half away across the state. I don't know how it got on the other half of the state, no one does, but the subject has led to some very interesting stories. Like how one of the Dictator's early projects brought some limited form of life to things like statues and dolls and the plaid man just decided to walk off his course and dig himself a nice hole to live in. Personally I think Barbie must have traumatized someone. How else do you explain people believing inanimate objects can walk?

I think my favorite story is how the scary smiling man got tired of all the other golf course statues making fun of his skirt so he ran away to live on another golf course but got lost on the way and found some very coincidentally placed quicksand that he sunk into and has lived in this hole ever since. Okay, so maybe Aaron and I had something to do with that one, but it's still my favorite.

It also wasn't until later that we learned what a kilt was. The woman in charge of the Snadtrap got real mad at us. I think it might have something to do with the fact that her grandparents used to live in Scotland.

Liela and I had made it probably a little over half way across the rock field when the soft sound of stones scraping against each other as they fell down a slope caught my attention. Before us everything was still and flat. Liela and I had just crossed the last of the feeble rises that spread out below the real hills that were still a couple hours walk away.

"Did you hear that?" I asked listening behind me for anything else suspicious. Liela stopped and turned to listen as well. We both stood there a long minute, stock still.

"No." She said turning to look at me now. "Only the wind through the trees." She said with a teasing smile.

"What wind?" I grumped. The air felt heavier than a herd of elephants and we had left the trees this morning.

We continued to scrape across the awful rocks that jammed into the bottom of my feet even through the thick soled shoes Aunt Ella gave me for my birthday. We need sturdy shoes what with the freakish amount of running we do and Aunt Ella had thought that these would last longer then my last, and only, pair of Vans.

She gave them to me when I turned fifteen and they were still going strong after two years.

Now that's what I call a good investment.

Laughter suddenly surrounded us, drifting from who knows where in an almost maniacal fashion. It reminded me of the villains from kids shows, where the bad guy wears a black cape and laughs in his amazing fortress trying to destroy the world.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Liela sarcastically.

She and I stood close together searching wildly for the old fashioned bad guys that had come to get us. But we didn't see anybody anywhere.

We could still hear them though, even if we couldn't see them.

"Ooo, look at the little birdies." A feminine voice crooned menacingly. "The poor darlings are lost. Maybe they'll play with us if we promise to show them the way." The female's laugh doubled making her sound crazed.

"Now, now Leopa," A rough male voice answered her. Neither of us could tell where either of them hid. He sounded just as nice as the girl. "Didn't anyone tell you not to play with your food?"

Food? Oh shoot. I looked back at Liela to see if her eyes had gotten as big as mine.

"No!" She, Leopa I guess, answered and cackled again.

"Stop torturing the birdies both of you." A new male spoke up. It didn't take someone with brains to realize who was in charge. The new voice screamed commander. Well not literally, but you get the point. The others both shut up, but we could still here their maniac laughter every now and then.

"What d'you want?" I yelled just before Liela shouted, "Who are you?"

They didn't speak.

Instead, shadowy patches of dirt started coming up off the ground, rocks rolling off their backs to the real ground. Gradually the shadows solidified into four humanoid creatures that stared at us intently like a cat watching a mouse.

That simile is more appropriate then you may think. While their appearances varied about as much as all the normal people you know, they shared a few defining features.

Like the cat ears and the tails and the slit pupil eyes.

"Oh look Pardus," one of the girls off to my right spoke with a kind of purr that made the 'r' roll almost, "the little darlings think they can take us. Isn't that funny?" Her laugh was high pitched with a kind of rumble underneath that turned it into more of a growl then laughter.

"Shut up Leopa." The guy standing in front of me ordered, never looking away from me. I stared him down; glad he stood a few feet away so I didn't have to look up. He was _tall_. Even taller then me, maybe even my cousin Will who was tall for a bird kid. With his sandy colored hair that stuck up almost like a mane, pointed ears, and long tawny tail that ended in a tuft I could understand why he led the group. I had no doubt what kind of cat the Whitecoats had added to his DNA. After all, lions are the king of cats, right?

"Come on Leo," Leopa purred out of my eyesight. "The boss only said we had to bring them back breathing. He didn't mention consciousness or bleeding." With all that menace dripping off her tongue I suddenly felt glad I couldn't see Leopa.

Liela pressed her back a little closer to mine. "I've got two." She whispered unwilling to take her eyes off of the two in front of her even to see how many more had surrounded us.

"Yeah me too." I said quietly. Another male stood to Leo the Lion Man's left, stooped in a half crouch. He had this blonde white hair with darker patches, like a coloring job done wrong. The patches in his hair matched the spots on his face, neck, and hands. I guessed they covered the rest of his body too, but I could live without the proof. As I watched, his fingernails grew into long, hooked claws. He smiled lopsidedly at me when he saw me looking at his claws and I caught a glimpse of white, dagger-like teeth.

"What's the matter birdie?" He asked in a familiar, smooth and dangerous voice. "You don't want to play anymore?" Pardus's smile grew a little bigger.

"Too bad." Leopa's equally dangerous voice came from behind me.

I turned my attention back to Leo. He hadn't stopped looking at me. It felt kinda freaky actually; even freakier than the fact that four cat people had suddenly appeared out of the dirt and now surrounded us referring to us as 'food'.

"So you're Charlie. The name's Leo. Nice to finally meet you." Leo grinned and shifted his weight into a more casual looking stance.

I will admit it, I grinned. He startled it out of me, what can I say? Most people that wanted to eat us didn't bother to introduce themselves.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." I said with just a hint of sarcasm. I've been trying to cut back recently.

Leo grinned back, showing teeth that looked like they shouldn't have fit inside his mouth. "Don't worry about them." He said jerking a thumb at Pardus and looking up over my head at Leopa. "They're a little more catty then the rest of us."

I felt as much as heard Liela snort. "Well at least he has a better sense of humor then the Flyboys."

"True," I said answered. "Speaking of the tin idiots what happened to them? Scrapped and sold for parts?" I asked Leo lifting an eyebrow.

He shrugged smoothly. "Well they sure ain't runnin'." He told us. "And if you two are as smart as I've heard then neither will you."

"What?" Liela spoke sourly. She always gets in a temper when we're faced with new fatal obstacles. "Are you and your pride tired of chasing your food?"

Pardus looked like he was going to spit a hairball at us. "We are not part of any _pride_." He growled. Leopa growled a refusal of her own but not in any language I understood and I'm sure that even if I did understand what she said, I probably shouldn't repeat it.

"Fine, whatever," A different voice spoke up behind me, feminine and annoyed. "Just do as you're told so I don't have to claw the two of you. Remember who they put in charge."

"Shut up Thera." Leopa spit almost as livid as before. "You've let the power go to your head. Don't forget that I have claws just as sharp as yours."

I saw Leo roll his eyes. "Girls." He muttered to me before adding more loudly, "No one's clawing anyone so both of you pipe down for a minute. And we are not going to eat you." He said more to me and Liela. "We're not savages."

Then he grinned in an unfriendly way, showing all his sharp edged teeth. "Well, not complete savages anyway."

I swear my eyes must have swollen so I looked like a freaky Charlie insect, but I managed to stop my hands from shaking. So much for nice guy I thought.

The soft shuffle of sand over pebbles whispered softly to my left.

"Oh, sorry," Leo continued drowning out any other whispers. "Now I'm scaring you."

Rocks clinked a little closer then before.

Leo's eyes darted off to the side then back to me fast enough that I might've imagined it. But I didn't. Someone else was sneaking up on us. Leo and his not-pride were just the distraction.

Well two, or six I guess, could play that game.

I smiled shakily back at him, making my mouth quaver more then necessary. "Maybe just a little." I admitted reaching back to grab Liela's hand securely in mine.

Leo saw it and smiled hugely at me. "Ah I get it." He said. I definitely saw bad behavior heading my way. "Love grows softly huh? So where do you even find the time to actually date? I mean with all the running, er flying I mean, and dodging bullets, and avoiding Flyboys-well I guess that one was never that hard. They weren't made to be the smartest tin cans on the block ya know? I bet you five bucks that's why the Director turned them into a police force. They won't contradict her or even think for themselves unlike some-"

I dropped, pulling Liela with me. We hit the ground just as something big and powerful flew through the air where we had stood not two seconds before. Make those two somethings, one on each side. They collided with a painful sounding crack and I heard a startled yelp from one.

But I didn't have time to pay attention to them. I shoved Liela towards the two girls who I could see looked shocked and furious. I gave them a quick glance saving their images for later when I had time to really look at them.

"Mirror!" I shouted paying attention to Leo and Pardus still standing shocked in front of me. Then I jumped up off the ground and charged them, hoping Liela did the same to her two behind me. That was the point of the mirror after all.

Pardus took a swing at me with his claws but I stepped under him, avoiding his swing and landing one of my own in his stomach, making him double over hacking. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and ducked to the side, avoiding Leo's punch. His arm flew past my ear and I grabbed his arm, twisting down and around to put him in between me and Pardus, who was getting back to his feet. I threw Lion Man forward, knocking both cats back to the ground in a pile.

While they tried to get out of their tangle of limbs and fur I ran forward again and snapped my wings open. With one quick prayer to whoever listened I leaped into the air, using Pardus's back as a launching pad.

_"Please let me fly again."_ I chanted over in my head. _"Please let me fly."_

I swept my wings down, gaining air, more then glad as the rocky dirt and dirty cats fell away rapidly.

"YES!" I yelled punching the air and flying even higher, putting as much distance between me and the fur balls.

"Charlie!" Liela called swooping closer to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded smiling like a lunatic I'm sure. "Yeah, how about you?"

"Fine," She reassured me and I felt a band unfasten from my chest, making it easier to breathe. I had worried about her.

A wind making roar nearly shook us out of the sky. I floundered, forgetting to flap a time or two. Liela dove under me to try and catch me so that I didn't land two feet from the furious putty tats. I'm sure you've figured this out already, but that would not be good.

I recovered my flight pattern and looked down. The two cats that had tried to pounce on us sat crouched on the ground having disentangled themselves from each other. They sat there arguing with Pardus, Leopa, and Thera, the other girl that had tried to distract us. They all kept turning to look at us but it appeared that most of their attention was on their discussion.

But Leo never took his eyes off of us.

As I watched, he smiled at us, looking more serious then before. Then he held up his hands, fingers spread wide apart.

_"This is the only reprieve you'll ever get."_ He mouthed at me then put his hands back down and turned his attention to the other cats. With a growl hiss that I could hear even way up in the sky, he broke up the fight and began giving instructions.

"What did that mean?" Liela asked looking uneasy.

I flew in a tight circle to turn around. "It means we've got a ten minute head start." I told her speeding up quickly. "We'll head to the trees opposite from the hills and try to lose them, then turn around and head toward the safe house."

"Why don't we just make a bee line for the lake and out fly them?" Liela asked catching up with me.

"Cuz I'm not sure that we'll be able too." I answered truthfully. "For all we know they have supped up cat genes with more then a dash of cheetah. Just fly as fast as you can and stay close. I don't think it'll help if we separate."

I saw her nod and pump her wings faster, going for max flight.

I looked at my watch. Our time was up. I turned around to see if they had started yet. The six of them were only specks in the distance, but they were moving.

And moving **fast**.

"Go!" I yelled at Liela pouring on my super speed. "Go now!!"

She must have seen the speeding specks too because she didn't argue. My wings burned already, not a good sign. Flying at super speed after being grounded for a week obviously was not as good idea as I had hoped. Even worse I realized that the slight burning that had already spread from my wings to my shoulders would feel ten times, or possibly ten thousand times, worse then it did now. But it was either that or turn into Pardus's scratching post so I poured on the super speed like kids pour chocolate syrup on ice cream.

Okay, so maybe it was more like how _I _poured chocolate syrup on ice cream but who cares. Sugar is good for a growing mutant bird boy no matter what his grandma and aunt say.

"When we get to the trees, dive and evade." Liela called a foot down and off to my left.

"Got it." I yelled back. It sounded better then my plan to just make it to the trees and hope we lose them.

Then the trees spread out below us and we both dove beneath the surface layer canopy and did our best to evade running head on into the thousands of tree limbs that apparently help to make up a forest. See? Dive and Evade. Dive into the fray, or forest, and evade getting hit. Very simple in theory.

But in practice I think it went up there right with heart surgery and genetic manipulation. For those of you who just laughed, let's see **you** try and keep from getting brained by a tree limb that can't get out of your way when you're flying more then eighty miles an hour.

I saw Liela swooping and ducking out of the corner of my eye. The plan was to lose the fur balls not each other. Liela caught me looking at her and pointed up ahead where a particularly leafy set of trees grew. The trees grew closer together beyond that, making it impossible to fly with dislocating or breaking something. I nodded and threw my wings out so I wouldn't snap my neck when I landed.

Despite that Liela and I both landed with a muffled crash. We clambered even deeper into greenery, hiding ourselves in the foliage, hoping that the cats couldn't hear us over their own running.

When we had climbed deep enough, we froze. I tried to regain control of my breathing. Panting would give us away.

Sooner then I'd like, two fully formed four legged cats, both spotted and snarling to each other, ran beneath us. After another moment, two tawny colored felines, a lioness and a lion, darted by farther out. Almost immediately after they passed, the last two appeared. They didn't run flat out like the others, and instead they loped towards us, eyes, ears, and noses alert to anything that didn't belong in the forest; mainly us.

I nearly gasped, giving us away, when the two differently spotted cats slowed even more as they came closer to our hiding spot. I noticed that unlike the first two that had run past, these two had more rings then spots. They acted calmer then Pardus and Leopa, and they certainly were not lions like Leo and Thera, so I took a shot in the dark and guessed these were the two that had jumped us.

The bigger of the two softly growled at the other but his ears and eyes stayed glued to the trees before him.

Liela and I barely breathed.

The situation reminded me of the time Aaron and I had first met Liela. It was almost scary similar. I had hid in a tree then; I hid in a tree now. The metal idiots would have taken us to the School if they caught us; the fur balls would take us back if they caught us now. Liela had seen me in the tree; Cat girl number three looked up and saw me now.

Darn it all to heck, I thought.

Liela and I both leapt into the air. At the same instant the cats leapt after us, paws out like they were going to hug us with their pointy fingernails. I stroked down hard, waping the smaller one on the nose. Liela beside me, I soared upwards and rocketed out of the trees.

"To the lake!" I yelled at Liela. We both changed direction and made a beeline for the lake that hid the safe house. We couldn't keep hiding from the putty tats, especially if they would keep finding us. Our best bet was to get to the safe house as fast as we could.

My eyes were tearing up from the fierce wind slapping me in the face by the time we cleared the hills. The lake shone blue and rippling down at the edge of the valley. I circled to slow my momentum and catch a glimpse of the cats still too close behind us for comfort. But still they wouldn't get here fast enough to see us disappear beneath the slightly muddy water.

Oh crud.

Two of the black dots way down beneath us sped up, faster then anything imaginable. They were gaining like they had super jets strapped to their paddy paws.

"Dive!" I yelled at Liela as I twisted around to point nose down to the ground.

"What?!" She shrieked. "Are you kidding? We'll break our necks!"

"We've got to get under water before they clear the hills." I called back at her.

"You said it was on the lake not in the lake." She shrieked. "I skate on top of water, not swim under it!"

"Just hurry up!" I yelled.

She angled herself down and tucked her wings in, gaining speed like a brick dropped out of an airplane.

I did the same, reminding myself that I need to ask for goggles for my next birthday. Water was running out of my eyes and then drying so fast that my face itched with the salt.

The lake suddenly filled my entire vision and I prepared to dive. Or maybe just die. I'd never tried this before, but water should be better then dirt right? Right?

It felt like I rammed my head into a glass wall when I hit the water; it broke around me but it still hurt like h-e-double hockey sticks.

Bubbles sputtered everywhere and soon I couldn't tell which way led up and which led down. So I just swam straight.

I broke the surface of the water just in time to see the cats crest the hill and start speeding down.

I sucked in a deep breath of air and dove beneath the surface again, flailing downward looking for some kind of clue as to where the safe house was. A giant sign that said "TV Station This Way" would have been helpful, but no such luck.

Something thrashing even more then me caught my eye and adrenaline dumped into my system. But it wasn't a cat. It was Liela, trying to swim, but only turning clumsily head over heels. I thought she was kidding when she said she couldn't swim. I managed to get control of myself and paddled over to her. I grabbed her arm and started swimming down where the TV Station was sure to be, but she only brained me with her wing.

We both froze when two distinct crashes sent more bubbles spewing through the water. Two sleek human looking forms sped towards us silvery bubbles surrounding their over large fangs.

Liela started frantically trying to swim again, but ended up rising more than sinking. I tried to help, but I don't think she knew I was even there anymore. The lack of oxygen combined with the predators that were now no more then ten feet from us made her panic.

But her movements were slowing and hard as I tried I couldn't keep bubbles from leaking out of my mouth.

The cats only swam closer.


	20. Chapter 19 I Did! I Did See a Putty Tat!

My friend finally threatened to blackmail me into finishing this quicker. Some of you may agree with her, but it no longer matters, because here's the next chapter. It's long, but I figure that makes up for the whole summer of chapter-less months, plus I have a special guest planned for chapter twenty.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Nineteen: I Did! I Did See A Putty Tat!

(And bubbles, much, much too many bubbles.)

Liela

Bubbles surrounded me. They grew so thick I couldn't see anything else. Not Charlie. Not the cats that had dived in after us. Not nothin'. And even though I know that's a double negative and literally means I _did _see something, I think you get the point.

I swung my arms through the bubbles trying to remember how to go down. Of course by then I would have been happy to go anywhere. I've never really figured out the whole swimming thing. I made the mistake of watching Jaws with a babysitter when I was four and even though I can now laugh at the shark for its rubberieness, the four year old fear of deep water still sticks with me. My mom tried to help me over my fear of water by teaching me to skate. But it didn't work. I can deal with frozen water (nothing with freakishly big teeth can live in ice) but I can't say the same for water.

My limbs started to feel heavier and the bubbles started to clear as fewer escaped from my mouth and nose. It started to feel like I was trying to swim through cold maple syrup.

As the bubbles cleared, I managed to make out a large, shadowy shape swimming straight towards me.

"Charlie!" I cried deliriously happily in my somewhat oxygen starved state. A whole new cloud of bubbles appearing in front of me. I reached out towards him, hitting something hard with my wing behind me in the process.

I turned confusedly behind me to see what I had hit, but I only saw Charlie floating there rubbing his head.

I slowly looked back around very confused now. Please don't laugh, but I was honestly thinking, "Why are there two Charlie's?"

But the person in front of me wasn't Charlie, jus in case you all hadn't figured that out for yourselves yet. Instead he was a she. She had dark brown hair with blonde highlights spattered randomly throughout. Like the other cat women I had seen, she had pointy ears set on top of her head and a dark spotted tail streaming out behind her. I didn't recognize her as Thera or Leopa, the two girls that had cornered us, so I could only assume she was one of the cats that had jumped us. Or rather jumped _on_ us, but oh well. Unlike me, she pulled through the water with strong strokes, looking more like a fish then a cat.

I laughed weakly, letting more precious bubbles escape. I bet that would've insulted her if I'd said it out loud.

Somewhere back (and I mean _waaaaaay_ back) in the corner of my mind I knew I should have been panicking. I should have been flailing uselessly ten feet from the surface of the lake, whacking Charlie senseless until I lost consciousness.

But I wasn't, so I didn't worry about it.

Actually I think the reason I didn't worry about it was mainly because I was too silly by this point to even realize I was in trouble. As Kitty 3 swam close enough that I could see she actually had whiskers growing out of her cheeks below her bright green eyes, I suddenly found something outrageously funny. I kept giggling, pearly bubbles slipping out between my lips. Something was just too funny.

I think it was the whiskers.

I was running out of air and in that back corner of my slowly shrinking rational mind I knew it too, but I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to glue my lips together, clamp my teeth down and ignore the ridiculous urge to laugh myself to death, but it wasn't working.

Kitty 3 was getting close enough that I was entertaining the idea of blowing the last of my bubbles in her face when there was a sudden underwater explosion. I was sent head over heels, ending up farther in the water then I could have ever swum on my own. Hundreds and hundreds of brand new bubbles sprung up around me, concealing everything and everyone from sight again. I giggled again and bit down on new bubble, trying to eat it, but only getting a mouthful of water instead. It took me by surprise, even though that back corner was thinking, "Well no duh you got water, you're in a lake genius!" I started choking, inhaling water after coughing out more bubbles.

The shiny bubbles grew dimmer. The blue water turned grey. I stopped sucking in water and felt my entire body relax. I was flying through a cloud. That explained it; why everything was grey and white and wet. I was just lost in a cloud bank. It wasn't the first time. I would just wait for Charlie to come and get me.

I felt a hard hand close around my ankle. See? There he was already.

*******

The next thing I knew I was spitting up lake water on a polished metal floor.

"Oh look she's awake." The high pitched female voice sounded like she was stating the obvious.

"Thanks Dori," Another, more calm, woman's voice told the other.

Then before I could panic a more familiar voice asked, "Liela? Liela can you breathe?"

I tried again. It still hurt like I had just thrown up, but no more water ended up on the floor. I pulled more oxygen in, my raw throat still burning, but I no longer felt like I was choking.

I tried speaking. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay." My voice sounded about as bad as my throat felt, but I could still understand what I said. Finally I opened my eyes.

Three bleary faces were hovering over me. Charlie and a blue haired woman who smiled like maybe she had lost more then a few marbles kneeled on the floor next to me, as wet as I was. Maybe they were a tiny bit dryer since they were dripping water onto me. The other woman stood over all three of us, dry as a cat, and watching us just as intently as the felines outside had.

"Are you alright Miss Lufte?" She asked politely and I recognized the second woman's voice.

I nodded. "I think so. Where are we?" I asked, looking back at Charlie.

He looked amazingly relieved. "We made it to the TV Station." He clarified helping me into a sitting position. "This is Romy, she runs the Station," he motioned to the cool, dry lady standing above us, "and this is Dori, who saved us from drowning and possibly being turned into cat food."

"Hi and thanks." I waved at them both.

I heard a spacey hiss, the kind you expect to hear on space stations and science fiction movies, and looked up to see what I had first thought was a wall panel slide open and two people in clean white uniforms stepped through. One of them, a woman with brown hair pinned up on top of her head, had a pile of soft looking towels and some spare clothes. The other one, a man with short cut, lighter brown hair and dark green rimmed glass perched high on his nose held what looked like a med kit.

I automatically slid back closer to Charlie. I didn't need any needles. What did they think I needed needles for? I only partially drowned that didn't require needles. That didn't require any kind of sharp, pointy objects at all.

They both froze when they saw me start away in fear. Charlie grabbed my arms though and stopped me. "They work with Mom. They're just going to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." I insisted, still eying the guy with the med kit.

Charlie turned me towards him and looked at me with an intense worry I wasn't used to seeing in his eyes. He looked almost scared.

"You nearly drowned." He reminded me trying to laugh.

I glowered at him, but let the med kit guy look at me anyway.

It turned out I was right. I _was_ fine. So were Charlie and the lady who had saved us, Dori. She was the last one they looked at and as soon as Charlie and I were given a clean bill of health, she opened her mouth and didn't close again for the next, well, actually I don't remember her closing her mouth ever again.

"We knew when you guys got here because Romy's just so smart and all that and she can kind of talk to the station, she's basically our walking, talking, breathing computer after all. Anyway I was just sitting around Bay Three waiting for you guys to get here and then without warning Romy just flushes me out like a dead gold fish and I turned round and round and round and round through the water until things got back to normal, but then I got to look for you guys! Next time Romy you really should just give me an idea of where our friends are. I mean, do you know how big this lake is? And if I'd been a few seconds later, Liela would be more then water logged and Charlie would look more like a scratching post-" Romy just nodded where she stood against the metal wall, but didn't speak. Dori probably wouldn't have stopped talking if she had anyway. "And did you see the claws on those suckers? Wow! I bet they could've taken on the Kraken and lived, or at the least disassembled him."

"I sure hope not." I heard the doctor lady say with a slight British accent as she handed me a warm, fluffy towel. I took it gratefully and started wringing out the buckets of water from my hair while she wrapped another towel around my shoulders.

Dori just kept on talking. "But I didn't know the Director had made any cat hybrids. Oh wait no I remember you talking with one in the Phoenix Romy, but he was a housecat wasn't he? He had those funny yellow eyes and blue hair like a Russian Blue cat and he spoke like his teeth were too big for his mouth." She stuck her fingers in her mouth to demonstrate. She sounded halfway between like she had a cold or her dentist had left cotton balls in her mouth.

I couldn't help but laugh. "So what about you Dori? Are you a fish?"

Dori nodded like a bobble head. "Yep. I'm a Blue Tang, just like Dori from that fish movie, what's it call? Little Lost Harpo? Anyway, that's why they call me Dori."

I looked over at Charlie to see if he had understood any of that. From the look he gave me I think he got as much as I did.

"Okay Dori," The doctor interrupted her monologue with a smile. "You're good. Although you might want to consider taking a bath in clean water, you smell like the lake."

Dori's expressive face fell drastically. "Ah, but I like that smell, even if I itch later. It reminds me of the ocean except without the salt and sharks. I always thought that smell was kinda fun you know?"

A few seconds after she started talking again the doctor man just started nodding his head. When Dori paused to suck in a giant lungful of air, he laughed and told her, "Alright Dori if you really don't want to, but keep in mind you're also going to smell like the Kraken after awhile. I may not even sit with you at lunch because of _that_ smell."

Dori's grimace looked more like terror she was so expressive. "Oooo, good point. I'm going to go shower!" And with that she sprung up and dashed from the room, earning shakes of the heads and smiles from the young man, the lady with towels, and Romy.

As the metal door slid behind Dori with another spacey hiss, Romy pushed herself off the wall and coolly walked over to us. Just from her determined walk I realized Romy was used to being in control. I suddenly felt like I was in high school again, unsure if I was in trouble or not.

But then the short, black haired woman smiled whitely at us and I felt my shoulders relax. Whatever she wanted at least we weren't in trouble.

"I'm sure you'd like to do the same. Martha here will show you where the showers are and give you some clothes. When you're done someone will show you to your rooms where we can get you something to eat or drink if you wish."

I started nodding. I felt half drowned (which I thought was pretty good because I was more then half drowned), I was exhausted from running/flying/swimming away from cat people, or trying to at least, and I had forgotten what decent food tasted like after weeks of scrounging and, worse, Cal's leftovers.

"What about the message you told Cal about?" Charlie asked.

I froze. Oh. Yeah.

Romy just gave us a level look. "We'll talk after you've eaten and, hopefully, smell better." She smiled again and then left us with the lady who had given us towels, Martha.

"Right, this way." She said cheerily as she turned on her heel and led us through the hissing, sliding door.

I looked over at Charlie, wondering if he'd gotten the same feeling that Romy was putting off talking to us on purpose. He met my one raised eyebrow with a small shrug. I shrugged back. Who knows, I thought, maybe something else has come up besides missing girls and brand new cat creatures. I tried to ignore my doubt when I looked up just in time to avoid running into a metal wall.

Miss Martha just laughed good naturedly at me and told me to watch my step. I glared at the back of her head.

*******

The shower was pure, absolute, bliss. I don't know what it is about stepping into a steaming hot shower of water when you're covered in lake muck and forest grime, but that feeling of getting so clean you've stripped off your top layer of skin is slightly addictive. I felt brand new and decidedly pink as I put on the clothes Martha had left me. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized that someone else was in here with me.

Then I just felt decidedly stupid when I realized the other person was my reflection in a mirror.

It felt weird, looking at myself after I don't know how long. I hadn't even seen a mirror at Cal's clinic. My hair was the longest I'd ever seen, past my waist and stretching toward my rear. I think the last time I had cut it was over a year ago; Mom had trimmed a few inches off for me in her kitchen. My skin had also tanned slightly so I was no longer the color of milk underneath my usual covering of dirt. I was taller then I remembered too and thinner, but I that's what happens when you spend all day running and eating only about as much as a normal person instead of a bird person.

I thought I looked kinda...pretty.

Which was even weirder then seeing my own face for the first time in months.

I was glad to see that a few things hadn't changed. My eyes were still blue with darker blue rings around them. My hair was still that funny, muddy colored blonde-brown, like it couldn't make up its mind. And I still had that small cleft in my chin, which I despised. It reminded me too much of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. I don't want to be narcissistic, idiot, bad guy.

Turning away from the mirror, I quickly left the locker room, feeling very glad that it was empty. I felt somewhat shaken. I shouldn't look like that. Well okay, maybe the height and the weight were all bird-girl issues, and I guess that everything else was just normal genetics, but still, it shouldn't all come together that...nicely. I wasn't pretty. I wasn't one of those cool, popular girls you saw at school, even when I went to school I was just one of the crowd. I didn't even get to shower on a regular basis!

I shook my head fiercely. I was losing my mind over a stupid mirror. Go figure.

Martha and Charlie were talking out in the in the hallway, there backs toward me. Now Martha was pretty. She had this milk chocolate skin and dark black hair and soft brown eyes. My best friend Michaela had those kinds of eyes and it felt like all the boys in school were mooning over her, even if she didn't know it.

But honestly I wasn't really paying attention to Martha Jones. Charlie was standing there next to her, smiling at something she had said, water dripping down onto his collar from his hair. His already dark hair looked even darker then usual, practically black, and it fell into his eyes whenever it got the chance. He hadn't had a haircut in while either.

I was shocked. With his hair falling in his dark brown eyes that were glinting with humor at whatever it was Martha had just said. He looked handsome, even in the ugly, grey, uniform things she had given us to wear. Then he smiled widely as Martha laughed and I think I felt my heart stop.

"Oh there you are Liela." Martha finally noticed me, still giggling at whatever she and Charlie had been talking about. "If you're all finished, your rooms are this way."

I let go the breath I was holding in and followed after her. They thought I had just come out of the locker room. Phew.

Then Charlie leaned in close enough I could smell the soap he had used. "What's up?" He asked quiet enough that Martha a few steps ahead of us couldn't hear. "You're face is all red."

My heart started pounding in embarrassment and I felt my face flush even redder.

"Nothing." I mumbled and sped up to ask Martha where we could get something to eat.

"Oh Wesley said he was going to have..."

But my mind drifted back to warm brown eyes and smiles that made me feel kind of weak kneed and warm and, and...

And where in the world was all this coming from?

I gave myself a mental shake. This was turning out to be one weird day.

********

Things got better as time wore on. Martha led us to a small, tin can of a room with a bunk bed, a couple of lockers, one desk with a chair, and a bathroom off to the side.

"Sorry we don't have anything grander." Martha apologized. "We're pretty full up at the moment, and some scientist friends of Romy's are here from the Phoenix to help her update the systems so they got all the nice rooms."

"Its better then what we're used to." Charlie said.

But not by much, I thought.

Martha smiled anyway as I tried to hide my snicker. "Good I'm glad, so like I said before, Wesley should be by soon with something to eat for the two of you and one of us will come and get you when Romy can see you."

I raised my hand a little to get her attention, feeling like a kindergartener with a question. "Do you have any idea of when that might be?" I asked.

Martha's smile faded just the slightest bit. "No, I'm sorry I don't. The updates she's working on can't be paused and need constant attention. She's trying her hardest to get away, but it's difficult. If you don't want to wait around here though, there's a lounge down the hall. Quite a few of our guests hang out there when they get the chance. Other then that if you need me just press this button and ask for Martha Jones."

"Thanks." I said as Charlie nodded.

She smiled yet again and then left us to our own devices.

I looked around the room again, trying to find anything interesting I hadn't seen on first glance. But considering the place was about as roomy as a sardine can, there wasn't much to miss except for one extremely large dust bunny hiding in the corner under the desk near the wall.

I looked anyway, trying to look at anything other then Charlie who, for reasons only that stupid mirror understood, still looked _cute_.

"So what'd'ya want to do?" Charlie asked sounding slightly uncomfortable.

Okay I lied, it didn't get better. It just got more awkward.

I shrugged. "I don't know." I told him in the same tone.

We were both quiet a moment and I stared at the dust bunny, who we shall now call Dusty.

Oh great I had just named a cloud of dust. "Let's get out of here." I said.

Charlie nodded, already opening the door. "It's like you read my mind."

We bolted out of there like Dusty would have if there was a vacuum nearby. We took a right down the hall, and then had to quickly turn back around because it turned out that was the wrong way.

The lounge was four times as big as the room Dusty lived in with plush green chairs that had seen much, much better days. A couple of chipped tables sat scattered across the main floor with a booth or two in the corners. On the wall hung the biggest TV I had ever clapped eyes on and below it someone had thrown some game controllers I didn't recognize haphazardly into a pile on the floor.

"Nice place." I said looking around at the dingy atmosphere and the six or seven people that sat around either in the green arm chairs or in the booths, some watching the gigantic TV while a couple others just sat around talking to each other.

"Isn't it though? Although I think we'll need to vacuum soon or the carpet will start moving on its own."

Charlie and I turned around to see the young doctor that had met us in the loading dock or docking bay or whatever you called it room where I had up chucked half the lake earlier. He grinned at us and hefted two trays overly laden with food. "I hope you're hungry. The cafeteria won't be open for awhile so I just kinda grabbed a bit of everything I could. You wanna sit somewhere?"

I thought I would end up drooling on the floor if I opened my mouth. Fortunately Charlie said,"_Yes!_" which answered for the both of us. Mister Doctor Man smiled and led us to a table on the other side of the carpeted floor where he plunked both trays on the table without spilling a drop from either cup.

We dug in without further invitation, Doctor Man sitting down across from us to watch. Though I'm not sure why he would want to, even on a normal day when Charlie and I aren't half starved from drowning (and being forced to eat Cal's cooking for a week prior) we didn't have the best table manners. So right then I'm afraid to say we probably looked more like half crazed starving weasels. Which, trust me, doesn't look as pretty as it sounds.

"So," Doctor Man said not knowing what else to say as he watched us eat. "How's the weather out in the big, wide, messed up world?" He asked.

Seriously? I thought as I gulped down orange juice. Did he honestly just ask us about the weather?

"Well it's, umm..." I stumbled over my words not sure if I should really answer that question.

"It's sunny?" Charlie told him with a half shrug of his well muscled shoulders.

I froze an instant that thought passed through my head, both on the outside and on the inside.

Oh dear lord what the heck was I thinking?!

I shook myself, forcing myself to pay attention to the conversation.

"We're so far down in the lake that I actually miss having changing weather. Down here we're surrounded by dark water. For all we know, the Director's made machines to control the weather."

"Don't say something like that." I said, swallowing before I did so I didn't spit food all over the table. "It could still come true."

The man laughed good-naturedly. "Well hopefully not, although if she does it won't be because she heard us mention it. The Station has got the most advanced security system except for the phoenix home base. Nothing gets in or out without us knowing." He bragged proudly.

We ate a little more in silence, slowing down now that we knew the food wasn't about to get up and walked away. I sipped my juice waiting for someone to speak.

"So who are you again?" Charlie asked Doctor Man as he pushed away his empty tray.

"Oh, sorry, you can call me Wesley or Dr. Crusher if you really want to, but Wesley is fine really." He told us casually.

"Wait a minute." I said putting down my empty cup. "Isn't Wesley Crusher the name of that kid in Star Trek?"

Wesley smiled broadly. "Yeah, but that's the point. They're code names really and everyone in the Station has one. Although people like you, ones that are only passing through, are just called the Audience or Viewers. But if you had to stay for say maybe a week or longer, you'd have to pick a name. Some people pick their favorite TV character; some pick a name that matches their personality, like Romy and Dori."

"So Dori really is like Dori then, the fish?" I asked remembering the loud scattered brained little fish in the movie and the loud, even more forgetful blue haired woman who had saved us.

"Yep," Wesley said. "They bred her with fish genes. It's left her memory a little spotty."

"A little?" Charlie asked skeptically, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Alright so she wouldn't remember her own name if she didn't have it permanently written on her hand." He amended. "But still, she's a nice enough fish. Just don't go asking her any questions that require long periods of thinking, she'll freeze like a computer and refuse to do anything else until she's got a decent answer."

"What does she do again?" Charlie asked. I was beginning to wonder myself.

But Wesley only picked up his cup and said, "Her share." That was all he'd tell us. Darn secrets.

"So when are we going to see Romy about this information concerning Rebecca?" I asked when it was clear that Wesley wasn't going to say anything else.

"She said she'll see you as soon as you're done." He told us, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm done." Charlie announced pushing his tray away from him.

I stood up too fast nearly spilling what little remained of my juice. "Yeah, me too." I said.

Wesley smiled at us as he casually stood up. "Yeah I thought you were. She's this way." He told us leading us down the hall and deeper into the submerged Station.

********

After directing us through corridors, hallways, and in one case down a ladder, Wesley finally dropped us off at a long, narrow, and very gray, conference room.

"The two of you can wait here. I'll go get Romy for you." Then he shut the door and left.

We waited there for the next three hours.

Three. Hours.

I was spinning lazily in one of the chairs, either about to scream or fall asleep when finally, _finally_, the door opened and Romy, as composed and cool as when I had seen her earlier, strode into the room.

"Sorry about the wait, the security system is giving us more trouble then we expected. I only have a few minutes before I need to get back." She informed us in her calm, crisp voice.

"No, don't mention it." Really, please don't mention it.

Beckoning us over to one side of the table that took up most of the room, Romy sat herself in a chair and tented her fingers in front of her on the polished wooden surface.

Charlie and I both sat on the opposite side, closer to the door out of habit. I was beginning to get a funny feeling in my stomach that we weren't going to like what she had to say.

Despite the time restriction she had mentioned, Romy took her time before speaking. But when she spoke she didn't bother trying to soften the blow.

"I'm afraid your friend is at the Münster School."

It was dead silent.

I opened my mouth, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came. What on earth _could_ I say to that? The Münster School was _the_ worst possible place anyone could be sent to. It was located in Münster, Germany, hence the name, and it was said that it was the personal haunting ground of ter Borcht and the Director. Any experiment sent there was either in for a quick death or a life filled with torture. It was also called the Monster School.

"Are you sure she's still alive?" Charlie managed to speak, although his voice sounded strained.

Romy nodded solemnly. "Yes, positive." She told us. "We're not sure why, but your friend apparently is very important to somebody."

No wonder we never found her, I thought as my brain slowly restarted. No one in their right mind would ever go near the Monster School. It was like begging for death.

"How do we get her out?" I asked quietly.

Now Romy smiled grimly. "There we can help you." She said flipping a skinny laptop I hadn't seen before out of her lap and onto the table. She opened it, pulled something up from the bottom bar and twisted the screen so we could see.

"The Münster School used to be a castle. As far as I know it was just called the Schloss-"

"The what?" Charlie interrupted.

"It means the palace or the castle." I told him. Ever since the Whitecoats had messed with my brain, letting me speak English instead of my native German, I'd been trying to regain my language. Over the last three years I had re-learned enough to speak fairly fluently, but it still wasn't the same as before.

"Yes," Romy said diving back into her explanation almost as if we hadn't spoken, "and like most of Germany it was rebuilt after World War II. However the Director, who thanks to her modified DNA was alive even then, enhanced the building. She added the foundations of her new School way back then, mainly the security and alarm systems we think, but it wasn't until she enacted the By-Half plan almost twenty-seven years ago that she really finished her School."

"So what?" Charlie interrupted. "How does that help? Her School's been impregnable for almost thirty years; we know that, but what about getting Rebecca out?"

Romy fixed Charlie with a cool glare. "If you let me finish you might understand that now be quiet." She ordered him. When he didn't say anything else (probably because he was in shock that someone besides Mom had ordered him around) she continued.

"Now if you look at this blue print of the Schloss before it was rebuilt, you'll see that the Schloss had its fair share of secret passages like other castles. The Director either filled these or incorporated them into her new building. However if you look over here in this section of the palace you'll see a solid block. Some thought it was a secret passage as well, but when they looked they only found a solid wall." Charlie opened his mouth to saying something and Romy sent him a quelling look. His mouth snapped shut.

"A few years ago," she went on, "one of our Phoenix agents was trapped in the Munster School. He managed to hide in this room, the one surrounding the solid block, but eventually the Whitecoats found his hiding place. They activated the security protocol, trapping him, but when they got down there he was gone. Even after looking over their security tapes they couldn't tell what happened to him. When he was questioned by his superiors in the Phoenix about how he got out all he could say was that it felt like he had melted through the wall and fell into the sewer that ran under the School. When another agent went to explore the area and hopefully find out how his comrade had escaped he found this."

The computer screen changed instantly, almost as if Romy had willed the new image to appear. The screen now showed a device I had never seen before. A cylindrical thing with a dull brass gleam covered with what looked like Egyptian hieroglyphs. Three crystal colored buttons, one of which had a crack running across its glossy, round surface, sat on top of the cylinder.

"What is it?" I asked leaning on the table to see it better.

Romy's smile looked absolutely ecstatic. "We have no idea."

"Huh?" Charlie asked, tearing his gaze away from the object to Romy. "Are you kidding me?"

Her smile grew chilly. "I don't kid."

I could definitely believe that.

"So," I started sitting back in my chair. "What's this got to do with melting through the wall?"

The ecstatic grim came back. "While we're not completely sure what its function is, we believe that it shifts reality enough for solid matter to pass through each other."

"Say who what now?"

I think that is the best sentence I have ever heard. Just to let you know.

Romy smiled at us like we were small children who didn't know anything (which I guess was true in a way). "We think it let's people walk through walls."

"Oh," I said feeling stupid. "Well why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Fortunately she didn't respond to that.

"So, basically if we find this thing we can just waltz in and out of the building any time we want." Charlie summarized.

"No." Romy's no nonsense attitude was back after its short transformation into depreciative humor. "The device is planted in the sewer, no matter how hard we've tried to remove it. And for more reasons unknown, it only affects the wall above it. Also, it remains on constantly, ever since the agent fell through the wall on accident. So all you'll have to do is jump and you're out. I'm afraid though that getting in will be more of a problem then getting out and one you'll have to solve on your own. We can't spare anyone to help you."

"I'm sure we can think of something." Charlie said slanting a look at me.

Yeah it may be stupid, but we'll think of something.

"Good, then that's really all-"

Suddenly the room flashed red and an ear splitting siren began to wail. Romy shot out of her chair grabbed her tiny laptop and rushed out the door with an alarmed look breaking onto her calm face. Not knowing what else to do we followed her, breaking into a run to keep up with her at time.

Wesley joined us halfway down the hall. "What is it?" He demanded, only sparing us a look of slight curiosity before catching up with Romy.

"Someone's knocking at our front door." She answered.

"Should we call out the Kraken?"

Romy shook her head sharply. "Not yet. Let's see if they think we're home or not."

A solid metal door barred the hall up ahead. A small keypad hung on the wall next to it. I watched close but it didn't look like either Romy or Wesley slowed down. I thought they were going to slam into the door, but when they were a foot away, it zoomed open as if someone had ordered it opened.

"What about them?" Wesley asked, jerking his head back at us.

"We'll send them through the main chute. It'll put them about ten miles from a Phoenix base that can send them the rest of the way to Münster."

We came to another door with a keypad and an eye and thumb scanner, but it opened as easily as the first.

Beyond it was a large circular control room rather then more hallways. There was a raised, glowing, circular pad in the middle of the room and the round walls were filled with panels and panels of buttons, knobs, and levers. Large monitor screens sat on the walls above the panels, showing different views of the Station and the lake outside. Several different screens had figures on them. Figures with whiskers.

"The cats!" I realized. Strange, I thought cat's hated water.

Wesley bent over one of the panels. "They're attacking section seven." He warned.

Romy stepped onto the pad in the middle of the room. "Evacuate the area. Then seal the Station. Wake the Kraken but don't let him out yet."

I thought she was talking to Wesley, but he didn't do anything she asked; only rapped out a warning to the Station's inhabitants over a loud speaker.

"Who's she talking too?" I asked no one in particular but hoping for an answer anyway.

Romy didn't even recognize me. I don't think she recognized anything by now. Instead she reached out her hands and grasped the air in front of her.

"She's a cyborg." Wesley called out once he'd flipped off the loud speaker. "Over half her body is metal. She can talk to the Station and manipulate its inner workings with a thought. It's like it's an extension of her mind. Sometimes I think she talks to it more then she talks with us. Now both of you get over here." He told us as he grabbed a handle near the floor on the wall and yanked, revealing a small oval hole barely big enough for a single person.

"Get in there." He ordered us.

I took a look at the hole again. "Both of us?"

He nodded his head. "Yes, yes both of you. We only have one pod, so squeeze in. Quick now before the cat's breach the wall. She'll have to release the Kraken at that point.

With a look at Charlie, I climbed in. It was small with just me in it, but after Charlie climbed in too, I felt like I couldn't breathe. But maybe that was just claustrophobia setting in.

Buttons along the panels starting flashing green to red and more alarms joined the first. I could still just see Romy on the pad, still grasping air. "They've breached the inner wall. Let loose the Kraken." She ordered the Station.

Then Wesley reached a hand into our pod and pressed a string of buttons. The door slammed shut, just barely missing Wesley's arm. All noise cut off, but I could still see a small window behind Charlie's left shoulder.

For a moment all we could hear was the sound of our heavy breathing.

Then there was a whoosh and I felt like I was zooming down a roller coaster head first into a dark abyss.

Then water and bubbles surrounded us as we cut through the murky water. I could make out vague shapes through the window, two small dots pecking at the dark outline of the Station.

Then a giant, inky blob surged into the blue of the water and my breath caught. It wriggled and writhed like a giant, jelly-like, squid. Lithe, quick tentacles, too many to count sprung off the blobby body, reaching out to swat at the small dots.

And us, I realized as a tentacle as thick as my torso shot out towards our small, defenseless pod.

It crashed into us, making my head spin, and I caught a glimpse of suckers the size of dinner plates outside our small window.

But then we were free, slipping under the suckered tentacle and darting through the seaweed toward the surface.

* * *

Hey, I also realized that June 22 this summer that it was After Armageddon's second birthday, so to speak. I thought that was amazingly cool. Also, I'm still looking for MUSIC that goes with the story. So if you have a favorite song or something like that send it to me.

Also review! Please, pretty please. Especially you Marie. I look forward to what you're going to say. Of course, I could also just go downstairs and ask you....

But on that final note, I have painting homework so I'll talk to you all later.

Tschau for now.


	21. Chapter 20: The Monster School

Hiiii! I feel so happy! I've gotten to chapter **_twenty_** (which I think is downright amazing), finally get to write about Mouse, and I got an A- on my Narnia paper! I don't have to do the second one if did well on the midterm. Hotdog and hooray! Anyway, while this chapter is short (mainly compared to the others) it has a very important star. I hope you like her.

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After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty: The Monster School

Mouse

My very worst fear is that I will forget what the sun feels like on my skin.

My earliest memories are filled with dimly lit cells and the smell of antiseptic. I remember catching a glimpse of the brilliant outside world once when I was small, with the sun shining down brightly on the green of the grass while a flame chested Robin sang boldly and the soft wind blew the perfume of the many, vibrantly colored flowers off to far places that I had only heard stories about. That is my most treasured memory.

As well as my most bitterest.

That was the day they took my brother away. I saw that mythical outside world only because the physicians that studied us were transferring him to a different School. I remember I was crying and we were both screaming. He promised he'd come get me.

So I waited.

And waited.

And I'm still waiting.

I don't doubt he'll come for me. But I still worry about him. There are a thousand and one reasons why it's taken him almost ten years to come and get me. He's trapped in one School or another; unable to escape the doctor's sadistic tests like me. Or he's lost somewhere in the world I dream about, not sure where the doctor's have hidden me.

Or he's dead.

I try not to think about that one. He will come for me. He will. He promised.

A clamorous clang startled me out of my doze, taking all beautiful dreams of grass and robins away instantly. Metal bars hindered my view, but unfortunately I could still see the blurred shapes of more occupied cages in front of me and to each side. The gloom in the room wasn't caused by the single light bulb, which swung erratically from side to side like it always did when someone slammed the door to hard, but by the poor, pitiful, children, including me, who were trapped in the Director's School. Some had given up all hopes of freedom. Some still foolishly think they could get away. Most were in pain. All of us still longed, no matter how stupid we thought the longing was, for the freedom of the outside world.

Thick footsteps echoed up the hall from the door to the accompaniment of squeaking cart wheels. I pressed my face closer to the bars of my cage, trying to see who they were bringing back. I fervently hoped it wasn't an empty cage on that squeaky cart. That meant that they were going to take someone away.

But no, a large ball of brown and black fur about the size of your average house cat huddled in the cage. I heaved a sigh of relief. Ricky was back.

The assistant pushing the annoying cart stopped and heaved Ricky's cage into the empty space in front of me. It settled with a sharp clang. Without a backward glance at any of us, the assistant took his cart and left.

After the last echoes of the large metal door slammed shut again, Ricky lifted his rounded triangular head and blinked lazily at his new surroundings. He yawned, showing off his large, white teeth and stretched his padded front paws out as far as he could in the confined space. Then with a soft ripping sound, almost like cloth beginning to tear, Ricky traded his feline skin for his human one.

"How's it going Mouse?" He asked me in a rumbling voice that still sounded entirely cat-like, even though he now looked like the sixteen year old boy he actually was. I always had thought it strange that out of all of us here in this horrible place, Ricky was the only one who knew his age for true.

"Kitty!"

Ricky's small, furry, brown cat ears, which he kept whether he was in his cat skin or his human skin along with the spotted tail that grew from the base of his spine, rotated toward the high pitched voice.

I knew the voice too. Lola, probably the youngest experiment in our room, was always happy to see her 'kitty'. Actually she was always happy, which surprised me given she had grown up here like the rest of us.

I turned awkwardly in my confinement and gave Lola what smile I could manage. She looked at me with that big smile and wide eyes of hers and pointed through the bars of her cage. "Looky Mouse, Kitty!" She told me.

"Yep, Kitty's back." I said.

Lola's twin brother, Liam, sat against the back of the cage he shared with his exuberant sister. Her complete opposite in almost every way, Liam was looking at Ricky with his usual unblinking gaze.

"Do you feel any better Liam?" I worried over him.

Slowly his gaze shifted over to me, big brown eyes staring. Then just as slowly he blinked and nodded.

"That's good." I answered him. I hadn't expected him to say anything; Liam never speaks. Ever since they moved him and Lola in here with the rest of us two years ago I have never heard him utter a single syllable.

"Did Kitty play any games?" Lola asked with her face pressed up against her bars. She still didn't quite yet realize that the tests we were put through weren't games for fun.

Ricky's smile was somewhat grim I thought, but Lola at least was too small to notice. "Yeah, they put me in the races." He told her. "I had to run really, really fast." He told her.

"Did you win?" She asked him curiously.

Ricky smiled at her. "Yep," He said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the back of his cage. "I was first to finish and I won a nap."

Lola stuck her tongue out. She hated naps.

Ricky yawned, looking more like a cat then a boy. "And I think I'll take my prize now. Goodnight guys." He told us. Then there was the sound like cloth ripping again and a Bornean Clouded Leopard sat in the spot Ricky had stood in. He turned three times before curling into a tight ball. He draped his furry tail over his small nose and then closed his eyes, giving the complete appearance of sleep good enough that I had no idea if he was faking so we would stop talking to him.

I sighed. Ricky really was a cat through and through. Aloof, strange, sometimes too preoccupied with dangling strings to notice any danger. He liked to be alone too, even though there wasn't anywhere _we_ could have privacy.

Lola turned to her brother seeing that Kitty had grown whiskers again and wouldn't be talking to us for awhile. I leaned back against the back of my crate, suddenly feeing very tired. There isn't much to do around here (for us anyway) so the day was filled with alternating periods of absolute terror and downright boredom. This was one of those days that just oozed boredom. Lately the doctors who were usually in charge of me were all busy with something else. I don't know what.

But whatever they were doing it meant that I had to sit here for hours and hours and hours.

Really I shouldn't complain. Every day they forget about me is one more day I don't have to feel sick. But the quiet in here gnaws at you're mind after awhile. Occasionally it's broken with cries of fear and whimpers. You never get used to the endless stretch of silence with its muted cries and pleas for mercy.

I don't know how long it was before the door opened again. I'm not very good at telling time even when I can see a clock, but I don't think we were sitting there for too long. Ricky's tail was beginning to twitch, meaning he was awake, and Lola and Liam had there hands out in front of them. I think Lola was trying to teach her brother a game she had made up to pass the time.

We all looked up when he heard the squeaky wheels. Ricky's fur rose on end and Liam squeezed himself toward the back of his cage. Unlike his sister, Liam hated and feared this place as much as anyone else in here. I think they put him through different tests them Lola, but for what I don't know.

All of us waited, wondering where the cart was going to stop. I heard small sighs of relief as the cart passed by. They were glad it wasn't their turn.

It turned out to be mine.

The squeaks stopped and the side of the metal cart filled half my view.

I held tight to the sides of my cage, ready for the jarring bash as the intern slammed my cage down onto the cart. I hit my head on the top of the cage, but I was glad that I didn't chip my teeth on the front bars again. That had _hurt_.

Soon enough my head stopped aching, but as the intern wheeled me out the door I realized that one of those terror filled periods was starting. I guess whatever my doctors were working on was complete. It was my turn again.

*******

I'm not sure how much later it was when I woke up in my cage again although I'm leaning towards a few days then just a few hours. The last concrete thing I remembered was being strapped to a long metal table, a single bright over head light shining fiercely in my eyes. Black silhouettes of men in surgical masks leaned over me, one holding an oxygen mask that breathed out a sleepy smelling gas, the other holding a wicked looking little scalpel. There were a few blurry images in between then and now, but they feel more like dreams. They look really blurry and the only thing I remember for sure about them is that I was scared.

But then again that is not too very different from usual.

I tried to sit up, but it was slow going. My head throbbed like it was going to split open and the room spun madly. My stomach flopped over sickly and I pushed down the nauseas feeling that crept up on me. I leaned wearily against the back of my cage and closed my eyes to sit out this horrid feeling.

When I was able to open my eyes again, I saw two very surprised and unrecognized faces staring at me.

"Oh my gosh," The girl whispered to the boy. "She looks just like him." The boy just nodded.

I peered at them, holding my head to keep it together. The interns must have put me in the wrong room. It wasn't the first time. I mean, one room full of caged mutant children is roughly the same as another. But usually people wouldn't stare at my like this. I was just another skinny little girl, although my hair, which is white, usually does attract a very little attention, but not the staring kind. But these two, a girl with yellow brown hair and blue eyes and a boy with dark, dark hair and eyes, stared at me, unashamedly, like they were sure I was someone else but couldn't quite tell.

"Can I help you?" I asked irritated. My voice was rough and hoarse so some of the affect was lost because I sounded too much like a frog.

They didn't answer, but they didn't look away either. I noticed the girl was beginning to cry.

Then the boy shook his head clear. "Sorry, you're, uh, you're Rebecca right?" He asked sounded not just unsure but unnerved as well.

Now it was my turn to stare. How in the world did he know that name? I've been Mouse for almost as long as I can remember. Even the doctors that are decent enough to call me something other them Subject S call me Mouse, even though I'm sure that my given name is listed somewhere on those charts they always carry around. The only one who ever called me by my name was my brother, but as I've already said, they took him away a long, long time ago.

My tired heart sped up. Did these two know Aaron? Was he finally coming to get me?

I swallowed, also wondering if this was some new kind of test the Director was giving out. Warily, I asked them. "Who are you?"

The boy leaned forward in his cage, looking excited like he had finally found what he had been looking for a long time. Who knows, maybe he had.

"My name's Charlie and this is Lie-"

The slamming open of a door cut him off. All three of us looked up sharply.

A very irritated looking intern came swooping down the aisle between the cages, another man in a janitor's dark blue jumpsuit walked more slowly behind him, pushing a cart.

"I work with idiots." The intern mumbled paying no real attention to any of us as he forcefully grabbed my cage and almost threw me on the top of the cart. "This is the third time they've goofed in the past two weeks. And who gets blamed for _their _mistakes? Me. That's who. _Me_. Who has to answer to the Director when she finds out what _they_ did? _Me_. If they do something like this again I'll hang 'em by their thumbs the nitwits. Well come on let's go." This last bit he said to the man pushing the cart I suddenly found myself on. With an almost languid gate, he followed the grumbling intern.

The intern hadn't put me right side up when he slammed me onto the cart, so I was sitting kind of upside down and sideways as I was wheeled away. From my new, awkward, position I got a final glimpse of the two strangers, Charlie and Lie-something. They were staring at me worriedly, like they were afraid they weren't going to see me again.

But then Charlie got a determined look in his dark eyes. I've come to know that look much better now; it means come Hell or high water he _will_ do what he's put his mind too. But back then I wasn't so good at interpreting his expressions and all I really understood were the words he mouthed at me.

"_Don't worry_." He silently said. "_We'll find you_."

And then the door slammed shut between us.

* * *

At least we meet Rebecca. I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty and look forward to the next chapter. Now review please. See you later!


	22. Chapter 21: In Which Charlie Has Several

Happy Birthday to me! I guess its really my unbirthday now but still. Enjoy chapter twenty-one!

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After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-One: In Which Charlie Has Several Bad Ideas

Liela

So you know that déjà vu feeling? Where everything feels like it's happened before. Yeah, I was surrounded by that feeling. I didn't like it.

Tentacles thicker then buildings with suckers bigger then my head whooshed past me in a whirl of water and silver bubbles. I felt my eyes grow wide and then sting as salt water flooded them as I realized what was going on. Romy had released the Kraken on the cats that were attacking the Station. If I squinted I could make out the shape of a giant squid looking creature, except instead of smooth orangey skin like I expected of squids, giant or not, it was dark and pebbly like it was coated in gravel. Its beak opened up on sharp, carnivore teeth and its eyes were lidless and huge and able to turn in different directions.

Another whale sized tentacle crashed through the water past my head and I suddenly felt incredibly small and useless. I noticed the cats had disappeared, though I don't know if it was because they were smart enough to run or they had just got eaten.

A satellite sized eye swiveled in my direction. With a mighty underwater roar, the Kraken zoomed toward me; going faster then I thought a creature its size could move. It would be on me in a moment but all I could do was float there. It came closer. Closer...

I was startled awake when the Kraken's tentacles, all fifty or them, wrapped around me and started to squeeze. For a second I was disoriented still in the grip of my nightmare. I looked around and wondered why there were crates in the middle of a Kraken infested lake.

Oh, right, duh.

There was no lake, at least not here. Charlie and I were in the Monster School as trapped as Rebecca was.

I leaned back against the rear of my cage, slouching so my head wouldn't hit the top of the cage. After almost four years of searching, we had finally found Rebecca. She was hurt and skinny and afraid, but she was still alive and that was all that mattered at the moment. Well, that and trying to escape without getting killed.

"Are you finally awake?"

I turned to the left where Charlie's voice had come from. He was sitting in the cage next to mine, even more slouched then I was. That struck me as strange. He wasn't that much taller then me was he?

I nodded. "Yep. Has anyone come in?" We hadn't seen anyone since they had taken Rebecca away. That could have been anywhere from an hour ago to yesterday morning. We couldn't tell time down here.

Charlie sighed. "No. It's been horribly quiet. I think I could start screaming and no one would come in. Did you have that dream again?" He asked sounding slight worried.

"Yeah, the Kraken tried to squeeze me this time though rather then just eat me."

Charlie shuddered. "Ew, nasty." He said.

We fell quiet. It wasn't a good idea to talk so frivolously anyway, since they were undoubtedly watching us.

If your curious, and I'm sure you are, my dream was fairly close to what really happened, except without the whole Kraken eating me thing. Charlie and I saw the beast through the little porthole as we escaped, and it did send a few tentacles after us, but it was mostly concerned with the six cats that were darting around it like flies. I saw it swat one away before the rest retreated.

Then Charlie and I were on the surface. We bobbed up in the middle of some kind of hidden oasis, probably made by the Phoenix for the TV Station as an escape route. Somehow we got close enough to shore that we could just climb out of the sardine can Wesley had crammed us into. I personally was glad that we didn't have to swim for dry land. After that wonderful drowning experience I don't think I'll ever get close to water deeper then a plastic kiddy pool ever again.

After that it took us a few days to reach the Phoenix base, mainly because the oasis was surrounded by desert and we traveled at night to avoid being seen by the cats (if they were following us in the first place, we weren't quite sure) and so we wouldn't be cooked alive by the sun. A phoenix agent came to meet us the last few miles so we wouldn't get hooked in one of the base's many traps so the Director wouldn't find it.

Sadly we were only there three nights before they shipped us out again. We got to sleep in _real _beds, in _real _rooms, not those tin cans were Dusty the dust bunny lived at the Station. I'll let you imagine my wistful sigh at the thought of them.

And then we got to spend the next _week_ trapped in the mail. Yes they mailed us. You'd think that with all this amazing new technology they could _e-mail _us to Münster but noooo, we had to go through snail mail.

I suppose it wasn't too bad. They put us in one of those humongous blue crates that they put on freight trains and sent us that way. When they first said they were going to mail us to Münster, I thought they were going to put us in your average package and slip us through the mail slot at the post office.

Then we just had to slip on board a plane headed to Munster and that was that.

Well, I suppose that isn't completely true.

"So how do we get in?" I asked as Charlie and I both peered out at the no man's land that sat between the edge of Münster and the Director's own personal School. We were hiding out on the roof of one of the tall business buildings that sat in the poorer district of town, out around the edge, scoping out the School's security for any weak points we could slip through and get inside.

There weren't any.

Of course we should have expected that. It _was _the Director's School after all. It's not like she'd let just anybody waltz inside to do whatever they pleased.

So now we had a problem; or at least one that was more immediate the others that occupied our lives.

"I don't know. Why do you think I know how to get in there without getting killed?" Charlie asked me, annoyed at our inability to figure this out.

I rolled my eyes at him and replied sarcastically, "Because you know everything."

He mumbled something I didn't catch but might have been, "Of course I do." Whatever it was sounded even more sarcastic than what I said so I didn't bother asking him to repeat it.

After staring at the distant School until the light faded, Charlie groaned and sunk down to the ground with his back to the roof edge rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"My head hurts." He said sounding aggravated.

I sat down with a loud sigh next to him and nodded. I looked up at the descending sun before speaking. "It's getting dark." I said. Then when Charlie didn't respond I said a bit nastily, "Do you just want to stay on this roof all night?"

"No." Charlie bit at me. "I'm thinking alright?" He snapped.

I huffed and glared at the opposite end of the roof. I knew we couldn't stay up here all night. The Director did fly bys in all the major cities to make sure that runaways like us weren't out and about. Besides it would get cold. It was near the end of October and unlike Arizona, where we had spent the last few weeks, Germany actually had a fall, rather then the ever present dry heat that hung around the Arizona desert. Already there was a nip in the air and with the sun sinking down lower every minute, we would be shivering before too long.

In spite of this I couldn't bring myself to think clearly. Besides the irritation, which was beginning to eat at my common sense, there was the fact that Rebecca was not even a mile away, trapped in the Director's Monster School.

We'll save her, I told myself stubbornly, we will. We just have to figure out how.

"That's it!"

Charlie's cry startled me out of sleep and I hit my head on the underside of the stairwell. Shortly after the sun had disappeared we had taken shelter inside the building. I fell asleep quickly enough, but Charlie apparently had stayed awake.

"What's it?" I asked irritated. I hadn't slept well the past few weeks what with riding on trains and sneaking away onto the luggage area of airplanes.

"It's so simple." He kept going not noticing me. "We just have to let them catch us!"

I decided I had to be dreaming.

"What?" I demanded. Had he gone crazy in the past few hours and I hadn't noticed?

He turned to me excitedly and grabbed my shoulders. "It's perfect. We just have to get caught and they'll take us into the School no problem." He explained.

I gawked at him. "No problem?" I cried forgetting to keep my voice down. "No problem? How about we'd be going to the worst and most guarded School the Director's ever built?! Of course there are going to be problems!" I shouted at him.

It must have been either too late or too early for people to work since no one crashed through the door demanding to know what we were doing in here. Although at the time I didn't really think about that.

"Think about it Liela," Charlie said, "we can't get in through the sewer and like you said their securities too tight. We already have a way out. If we just let them take us, all we'll have to worry about is finding Rebecca and getting the heck out of there."

I failed to see how that was exciting. "Oh no kidding so all we have to worry about is the HARD PART!!!" I yelled at him wishing he would actually _listen_ to what he was saying. "They'll know we're there and they'll watch us. How do you suppose we'll escape unnoticed?" I demanded.

That one made him think.

"I don't know yet." He finally said. And then before I could strangle him he added, "But I'll figure it out."

I found myself shaking my head at him. "Good you do that. I'm going back to bed. Good night Charlie."

The next morning we were found sleeping in the stairwell by security and were immediately taken to the Monster School. As much as I wanted too, I couldn't fight. Not just because of Charlie's crazy idea but because the security force bound our hands, feet, and wings before they called the School's goons.

Charlie told me later after they shelved us in the back room we were in now that it was probably the best way we could have gotten in. It wasn't suspicious or anything. I told him it was the stupidest thing we had ever done.

But it worked anyway.

The loud bang of the doors (I think all School doors are made to bang, keeps people on their toes) snapped me out of the light doze I had fallen into.

A smallish man with a liquid, easy walk walked into the room alone, the door closing noisily behind him. There was the slightest hint of a swagger in his step, like he was immensely please with himself but was trying not to show it. Apart from a sharp face and a glint in his eyes that made me think he was more then slightly unhinged, he was terribly boring and common place looking.

He stopped in front of our cages and bent down just enough that he could look us in the eyes.

"Well if it isn't the Wabbit's friends. How's it going my little canaries?" He asked us, smiling in a lopsided way.

I glowered at Dr. Bradley Akins, wishing he'd let me out of this cage so I could take a swing at him. He wouldn't be smiling when I broke his nose. Then again, given the fact that he's downright crazy, he just might.

"What'd'ya want Fudd." Charlie demanded, sounding like he wanted to break Akins' nose too and maybe give him a couple of black eyes to boot after what he did to Aaron.

Akins shrugged just as crookedly as he smiled. "Oh, nothing really. I just came to see if the canaries they were talking about upstairs were the ones that escaped me when I caught the last white wabbit. Turns out it is. It's nice to see you two again." He greeted us pleasantly.

All the while he stared at us unblinkingly. It was eerie. Like his eyes were glass marbles that didn't need to move.

All three of us were silent for a stretched moment. Then abruptly Akins straightened up. "I guess you've heard about my latest project then, eh? I can't imagine why else you'd be _here_." He gestured with a laugh at the metal walls and rows of empty cages. His laughter was short though and quickly died. "You won't find it though. I promise that. And if you do try to take this away from me," He leaned down to the bars of our cages, closer then before. His smile showed all his teeth in a hazardous grin and his eyes reminded me of an axe murderer movie. "I will personally put you on the dissection table no matter how much the Director kicks and screams over it. Understand?"

My knees felt suddenly shaky. I was used to doctors wanting my brain in a jar but I'd never seen one act so openly insane.

"Shut up!" Charlie yelled, angry rather then frightened, "We're going to save her whether you like it or not. So just keep your crazy to yourself."

Akins straightened again and I felt a mood swing headed our way. "Her?" He asked himself confused. I briefly wondered if Charlie had left out who 'her' was on purpose or if we were just lucky. It would be harder to rescue her if they knew she was the one we were after.

Then, much to my surprise and horror, Dr. Akins started to laugh. Have you ever heard a mad person laugh? It's creepy isn't it? The sound stretched on and on, until the noise filled the long metal room and began bouncing echoes all around us.

Just as abruptly he stopped. With a chuckle or two he wiped his glasses clean and shook his head. "Her." He muttered more to himself. "They're here for 'her'." He laughed a little more naturally. From the way he spoke I was glad he didn't know who 'her' was, but it made me horribly curious to know what he was talking about.

But thinking about his threat of dissection, I didn't ask.

Akins put his glasses back on and sighed happily. "Well then, I'm glad that that's settled. It was a pleasant talk my little canaries. Until we meet again." He said with a friendly wave of his hand as he turned and left.

The doors closed just as loudly as before.

I turned to Charlie to see he was just as bewildered as I was. "What the heck was that?" I asked.

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he forgot to take his meds this morning." He didn't sound sure.

"Yeah, I guess..." I wasn't sure how to finish that sentence. It was as if he went completely bonkers over a mistake. Whatever he was working on, I was glad I wasn't part of it.

Movement caught my eye.

Charlie sat slouched in his cage just as painfully as before, head down, legs stretched out as far as they could go, and hands I his lap. Except now his hands twitched in weird little motions not meant to catch attention.

Yes, we'd made up a sign language. When you spend as much time in School's as we do, it comes in handy. Unfortunately we hadn't gotten very far with it so there was a skimpy vocabulary so our conversations sounded more like lol cats were talking rather then bird children.

_Now what?_ He signed at me.

_Now what?_ I signed back, letting my face show how incredulous I was. _Is YOUR idea._ I pointed out with a particularly hard motion. _You think of what next._

He was still and I could see his eyebrows come together in thought.

Eventually he turned to me, a possible idea plastered all over his face. _What if we-_

A cart blasted through those dang noisy doors accompanied by two interns and our dear friend Dr. Akins. His somewhat but not quite creepy smile was back. "The Director will see you now Canary One." He told Charlie then laughed as if he had just told the best joke in the world.

Charlie hands flashed so fast I almost didn't catch their meaning. _Just wait for my boom._ He told me. 'Boom', I'm afraid, meant several things. It could be distracting boom, a big plan kind of boom, or the literal boom, like when something explodes. I hoped it was the distracting kind of boom. The last time it was literal my feathers ended up singed.

The interns had swung Charlie up on the cart and Akins was going on about canaries that should behave themselves when they meet important Directors so their friends didn't end up like a Christmas turkey. I signed quickly. _How do I know it's your boom?_ I asked him exasperatedly.

As they wheeled him away, Charlie had the gall to wink at me. _Oh_, he told me, _you'll know._

I plopped back against my cage wall after the doors closed behind them and sighed. There were a million possibilities. Charlie could escape and blow something up to tell me it was time to go. Or more likely, Charlie would try to escape and the Director would blow something up to stop him. I let my breath go out in a whoosh.

I did not look forward to this.


	23. Chapter 22: Boom

Merry belated Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a good day. I love Christmas, I get to spend time with my family, and this year we stayed in D.C. so we had a white Christmas. We live in Texas so this was an unusual experience for us. Anyway I suppose you could call this a late Christmas present. I hope you enjoy it and have a happy new year!

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Two: Boom

Charlie

I currently found myself standing face to face with the true embodiment of evil.

She wasn't as ugly as I thought she would be. I suppose for a two hundred year old woman she looked fairly handsome, but definitely not pretty and most definitely not my type. I'm not quite sure what my type is at the moment (although it is beginning to take form in my head) but it most definitely was not a hundred something year old lady with too red hair and a doctorate in destroying lives. I wouldn't be surprised if she fed off peoples' happiness and therefore turned them into zombies.

But the worst of it was her eyes. I had heard that eyes are windows to the soul. If that's true then the Dictator's soul was a cruel, empty, muddy colored brown. I felt like I was looking into a deep, dirty well that you couldn't see the bottom of, but you could make out vague outlines of scaly shapes lurking under the surface. Kinda like people from Louisiana feel whenever they pass a swamp and notice one of the logs is staring at them.

The Dictator finally noticed I was there and turned from her paperwork. She smiled at me, ignoring the two gorilla men standing on either side of me. I suppressed a shudder at the sight of her too white teeth.

"Charlie," she greeted my, "it's been too long. You've grown up since the last time I saw you. You look exactly like your dad. How are you feeling?"

I cocked my head at her. "Don't you know already?" I asked sarcastically. "You know everything else about me, why not my current heart rate?"

The woman laughed. "You have your mother's wit I see. How is she nowadays?" She asked with a feral smile.

I glared at her.

"Ha ha!" She laughed in what I thought was a harpy like way. "I can't decide if that is your mother's or your father's look of hatred." She shook her head and sighed trying to sound disappointed. "They never did understand my work."

I rolled my eyes and spoke under my breath. "I wonder why."

Her eyes flashed even more dangerous then usual and I tried to suppress my shiver. She scared me worse then the log with eyes in Louisiana. "Hate me all you like but roll your eyes at me again and I promise I will reunite you with your parents very soon. Understand boy?" She demanded in a hard voice.

I didn't answer. "Wow," I said instead. "Your bed side manner has improved. Last time you said I was a rat with wings." I remembered that day very well thank you very much. One of the interns had taken her seriously and put me in the rat room. Not a day I want to relive, ever. Rats don't just bite, they nibble continuously. It's worse then just plain biting.

Now finally her face turned sour. Her lips pursed like she'd just swallowed a bad lemon and she glared whole heartedly at me. Well, maybe more like no heartedly. Even if I can't scientifically prove she has no heart, I _know_ she bartered it away to the devil for happiness and long life. He gave her one of them at least. Then again I never thought the devil handed out much happiness. "How good of you to notice rat." She bit.

I screwed up enough courage to laugh at her. "That's better. I'd rather you show me your real face Medusa instead of giving me that pretty mask you like to show the public. Don't worry; you won't frighten me into turning into stone.

Her glare was so hot the next minute I thought that even if I did freeze into a statue she would still melt me down into lava. I stayed still and just stared at her blandly. As fun as it is to push the crazy lady's buttons, you don't want to push her too far or you'll end up falling apart at her feet. Quite literally I mean but you may have some help going to pieces from the guy behind you with the needle and surgical saw.

Still glaring, but now at the paper in front of her, the Director signed it with a sharp flourish and stood up, coming to stand in front of me. I was more then a little surprised to find that the top of her red head only came to my nose and her eyes were lower then my chin. She stopped a foot or so back so she wouldn't have to crane her neck to meet my eyes. Who knew that evil really did come in tiny packages?

She peered at my intently for a moment and I tried not to squirm.

"What are you doing here Charlie?" She asked me in a soft, but very dangerous, voice.

I half shrugged at her. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old. We just flew halfway round the world to spoil your evil plans. The usual."

She raised an eyebrow at me and began to smile. "By letting security guards catch you? Come now, Charlie." She showed her teeth again. "You're a better liar then that. Since when do you and your friend get caught sleeping on the job?" She laughed one short bark. Then she was back to staring at me with those black hole eyes of hers. "That was a rotten lie. Didn't you learn better from your mother Charlie? Try again."

I tried to keep up a steady gaze but the sight of those awful eyes and too white teeth made me cringe. "Fine, how bout this we came looking for my parents. We heard you brought them back as zombies and we wanted to try and put a stop to your nefarious plans." I told her sarcastically.

I thought for a moment I saw her wince, as if I had said something alarming, but no, when she turned to me her face was just as empty and evil as before. She laughed; a horrible, snide kind of sound that was surrounded by her impossibly red lips. All that cringing must be making me see things.

She pretended to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. "You need to work on your lying Charlie. That was even worse then the first one." She turned, still laughing, and gracefully sat in her fancy chair.

She skewered me with a murky brown eye. "So I bet you're wondering why you're here." She said causally.

"I thought you were just wondering that same thing?" I asked innocently.

She ignored me and fingered the papers she had just signed. I couldn't see what they said, but I got the feeling she was taunting me with them. I didn't rise to the bait and ask what they were. I wouldn't let her get the best of me.

"Charlie," she stared up again, "I think our relationship has become twisted."

"I thought it was twisted to begin with."

She glared at me again. "See that's what I mean. You used to fear me. And I don't mean that whole 'I'm afraid of the monster in my closet' stuff. You used to wholly and totally fear what I would do to you. Now you only make snide remarks and roll your eyes at me. What have we come to?" She sighed dramatically.

"Spare me your dramatics. What's your point?" I asked.

She leapt out of her chair and got in my face. Despite her small size I still felt like cowering.

"My point, Charlie, is that you've forgotten what I can do to you and your little friends."

She snapped her fingers and two tall guards stepped forward and took hold of my arms. I looked and was surprised to find that I knew them.

"Pardus, Leopa, how nice to see you again. How's the fish today?" I smiled cheekily to see if I could make their fur stand on end.

I couldn't, but Pardus growled at me and dug his claws into my arm. Leopa just snapped at me. "Shut up worm breath."

"Pay attention Charlie. I'm only going to show you this once." The Director spoke up in a calm voice.

I dutifully looked up to see that a white screen had appeared. The Director picked up a remote control off the top of her desk and pointed it at a black box that hung opposite the screen. The projector must have only been in sleep mode because it sprang to life instantly. After what she said about hurting my friends I was afraid that she was going to do something to Liela, but the image that appeared on the screen was too dark to be anywhere in the School were Liela was.

Instead it was covered with various dark moving shapes. They moved in a chaotic way running one way, or running a different way, or sometimes running into each other. The horrible yet familiar noise of fighting filled the room now. At first the noise was mainly filled with the delightful sound of Flyboys being trashed by the four living figures.

But then there was a horrible scream.

"Nudge look out!"

I felt my skin go cold as I heard the familiar voice of my mother. I watched closely, finally recognizing the scene playing in front of me. It was night and very cloudy, which explained the dense darkness. There were trees all around, sickly looked underbrush, and a decrepit pile of tree trunks that had fallen a long time ago. Even knowing that the trees covered an equally old hole where us youngest three had hid I couldn't see the deeper dark of our hideout in the other shadows. I thought I might have caught a glimpse of Angel's golden hair once, but I couldn't be sure.

The slenderest of the fighters left the fight to the taller two, who I know knew was my dad, Fang, and my oldest uncle, Iggy. Mom dropped down to her knees next to my aunt Nudge and inspected her wounds.

"Are you alright?" Mom asked breathlessly.

Nudge nodded but when she answered her voice was strained. "I-I think my ankle broke is all."

Mom got an arm under Nudge's knees and the other behind her shoulders. "Come on, let's get you out of here quick." She looked over at Dad to see that he and Iggy had momentarily cleared the area of Flyboys. "We need to get to get to Mom's. Hey Ch-"

She was interrupted by a different, cold, nasty, voice that one wouldn't be surprised in any of the Director's Schools. "Oh you're not leaving so soon are you? We just got here and it's been so long since we've seen each other." I watched as a man wearing a white coat stepped onto the side of the screen. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties but he already had gray strands in his brown hair. His eyes were gray in the dark and, like the Director, his smile was cruel. I made sure to commit his face to memory.

"Not long enough." My mom spat at him, still holding Nudge.

"Oh Max don't be that way." The Whitecoat said charmingly. "We just came to talk."

"We?" Iggy asked quickly enough that I almost missed it.

Flyboys appeared in droves and surrounded the small group.

"We." Dad stated grimly.

My mother ignored them both. "The last time you wanted to talk you shot me through the wings and shoved me over a cliff." She scoffed at him.

The Whitecoat smiled viciously again and said in a wistful way, "Ah, good times, good times."

Even in the dark I could see Mom glare at him.

"Now Max," The man's demeanor changed from easy familiarity to annoyed disappointed. "We're not going to have to do this the hard way yet again are we?"

"Darn straight." Iggy shouted.

It was too dark to see Mom's facial expression, but I could still picture her fierce smile as she said, "What he said."

I almost missed what happened next (and I even knew what to expect). Dad and Iggy moved at the same time, Dad going forward to try and get his hands around pompous Whitecoat's throat while Iggy leapt up, spreading his wings so wide he blocked out what little light came from the stars overhead.

But that was the point.

There was a horrible racket as Dad compressed more Flyboys and Mom hauled Nudge up off the ground so that Iggy could get her up and away.

With a loud rush of wind he was above the tree tops and zooming off toward safety, carrying Nudge. Evil doctor waved his hand at a group of Flyboys and about twenty of them took off into the air after them.

Now my mother joined the fray. The starlight had returned and I watched as my parents trashed Flyboys right and left. For a moment, even knowing how the story ended, I thought they could win.

But then reality joined the party.

Soon the Flyboys brought their numbers to bear and Mom and Dad were lost in the mass of stiffly moving metal. When I could see them again, the Flyboys had twisted their arms behind their backs and forced them to kneel before the doctor.

He was shaking his head disappointedly. "Max, Max, Max." He said. "Why can't you simply make this easier on yourself? I don't want to hurt you."

"Gee you sound so honest." Mom muttered sarcastically.

The doctor smiled. "Why thank you Max. I've been practicing." Then he strolled nonchalantly around his captives. "You know Max the Director is pretty mad at you. I think we all know what she'll do to you if I take you back to her."

"Yeah I think I can take a good guess." Dad muttered into the dirt.

"So," Crazy man kept saying ignoring my dad. "I see two options before us. 1) I can be a good boy and do as my mommy told me or 2)," here he leered creepily, "we can come to an arrangement."

Whatever the arrangement was I wanted to say, "Ew". He looked just so gosh darn ugly with that creepy smile.

Mom's face was a reflection of mine. "Thanks but no thanks Tweedle Dum." Mom snapped. "I'm not about to trade one life of slavery for another."

Creepy man shrugged as if he didn't really care one way or the other. He sighed dramatically. "Alright Max, if that's the way you want it." He signaled to the hoard of Flyboys surrounding them. "Boys, take them away. And search the area for the rest of their brood. If you don't find them and I find out they were here, I'll have you turned into scrap metal understand?"

The Flyboys were already moving away to do their job. The threat was empty for them anyway. They didn't care if they were disassembled because they couldn't feel. They just did their job.

Creepy man was talking again. "Now come along Maxi. The Director just can't wait to see you again. Best not to keep her waiting." He sneered again, even worse then before and I cringed.

The tape ran out and was replaced by static as my parents were forced to walk after the smirking doctor.

I stood there, trying not to imagine what had happened to them and only half succeeding. I had never known what really happened to my parents only that they had been taken by the Director's henchmen when I was six years old.

I heard a fearsome clack as the Director stood up and stalked toward my like a cat pads forward when it sees a wounded mouse it wants to play with before it devours it.

"Do you see my point Charlie?" She asked with a mea grin.

"Nope," I said. "Can't say that I do. Unless you mean to point out how cruel and insane your minions are. Then I would say that you proved your point pretty well." I said.

The Director shook her head dramatically. "Now Charlie, leave poor Leon alone. He can't help his brain chemistry. Besides, it has come in...rather handy." She said.

I resisted the urge to shudder. I didn't want to know how an unbalanced masochistic could be handy to the Director.

"The point Charlie," The Director leaned in close and spoke in an ominous tone. "Is that I can do anything Charlie. You'd best remember that."

I swallowed hard, not out of fear as the Director thought, but out of anger. I would not let her win like this where she could just torture little kids and kidnap people from their families without any repercussions. I couldn't let her get away with this.

I rocked back on my heels, pretending to think. "Well that isn't what I learned with that video." I said. "I learned that it takes you thirty years to catch two escaped bird people. I figure I've got thirteen more years before I'm in any real danger."

Her glare would have burned me to ash if I hadn't had an older sister. I used to dye all her dress slips black so that they would show through her pretty white sundresses that she was so proud of when she was a teenager. I was immune to that look now.

Then she gave me a monstrous grin. "Pardus, take our feathered friend here to Doctor McCauley's office. Leopa, you go find his friend and bring her to my lab. I want to see why her transmitter is not working. If it isn't there, give her a new one before you let her loose on her friends in the Phoenix. Good bye Charlie. We won't meet again I'm sure." She turned and waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder.

I heard Pardus and Leopa snicker maliciously. Then they dragged me out of the room, their claws cutting deeper into my skin. "Come on Charlie bird," Pardus said mockingly. "You've got a doctor's appointment. You don't want to be late now do you?"

"No," I said straining against their impressive strength. "I just love to meet crazy doctors every four to sixth months."

They snickered again and pulled harder.

"Oh don't worry Charlie." Leopa said in a sickly sweet voice. "You won't be alone. I'm going to go get your friend right now. If you're a good little hatchling I'm sure Dr. McCauley will let you watch her surgery." She laughed, loud and high and cruel.

Crud. We had been lucky the first time Liela started hearing voices. Cal couldn't have been any closer. But if they gave Liela another transmitter to reactivate the say-so, then there was no telling what the Director would learn about the Phoenix. And worse, Liela would be trapped inside herself screaming as the Director used her to betray our friends. If the Director didn't kill her when she was done with her I had a nauseating feeling that Liela would do it herself. I'm afraid to say that it wasn't all that uncommon for people with say-so's.

However I'm sure it's less common if the person's friends prevent them from getting a new transmitter. So I choose that option. It sounds easier on all of us.

Now I just had to figure out how to get away.

As some of you are beginning to guess, this would be a good time for that 'Boom'. And yes it was an excellent time for a 'Boom' but we're not there yet.

With one last little mocking snicker, Leopa left me in the, sadly, capable claws of Pardus and disappeared through one of the doors that peppered the hallway.

I waited for my golden opportunity to escape from surly Pardus. They come in pretty handy in situations like these. Unfortunately they like to take their own sweet time no matter what you're doing and Pardus and I reached Dr. McCauley's office before it arrived.

Pardus knocked politely on the door, something I hadn't thought him capable of.

"Who is it?" A man's voice called in a sing-song way from inside. I cocked an eyebrow. Some fearsome Whitecoat.

"It's Pardus Doctor. I have a guest for you from the Director." He said anything but rude.

There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and then the door opened. I very nearly gawked at the man standing in the doorway. It was the creepy, leering doctor from the Director's home movie.

He took one look at me and smiled from ear to ear. "Why if it isn't little Charlie!" He exclaimed. I didn't want to know why he was so glad to see me. "The last time I saw you, you were this big." He said holding his left thumb and forefinger half an inch apart.

Dang it he was even crazier then Atkins. Why did the insane ones always have to know _me_? Why couldn't they know my brother's second cousin twice removed? Huh? Why?

Okay so I don't even have a brother or a cousin once removed, much less twice, but still. That's the point. They wouldn't know me, they'd know someone that doesn't exist and that would put then straight in the funny farm. I could deal with that.

"But you don't remember me do you?" Crazy McCauley was saying. He shook his head and tsked. "That's a shame. Oh well. Now we have a chance to get to know each other again. Won't that be grand?" He said sounding extremely pleased.

Oh, joy.

He ushered me in and my feline guard followed ominously. "Sit. Sit." McCauley insisted shoving me into a too soft chair I wouldn't be able to get out of without a lot of flailing. Crazy or not, I thought, he was very good.

"Now Charlie," McCauley said as he sat on the edge of his desk facing me. "How's your brain?" He asked conversationally.

I blinked at him. He sounded so casual, as if this was a completely normal question.

"Fine, I guess. I haven't had a concussion in about three months." That was a new record for me.

Crazy McCauley wasn't impressed. Instead he shook his head and tsked. "Oh Charlie you're brain is your most vital organ. You shouldn't treat it so carelessly. After all, if it's too damaged, I won't be able to use it in my newest experiments."

Sheesh he made it sound like I was just renting it, like it wasn't really mine. Which is kind of odd considering it's _my brain_. He even admitted it two seconds ago.

"So I take it you want my brain." I said.

McCauley nodded like a broken bobble head.

"Hmmm, I have a slight problem with that." I said. "You see, I'm still using it."

He grinned like a kid seeing Santa Claus come down the chimney. "Not for long." He said cheerfully.

Whoa, talk about contrasts. If you put the crazy doctor on mute then he would be all innocence and sugar candy. But you add that sound track and suddenly he's crazier then a bird that thinks it's a cat.

"I see," I said trying to sound casual. I could see why Pardus was being uncharacteristically polite; I didn't want to push this guy's buttons either. "Well, will this take long then? I need to get back to my friend before she starts to worry. You know how girls can be I'm sure."

He cocked his head. "No," He said. "I don't."

I wasn't really surprised.

"Besides Charlie I had thought you would want to see your mother. It's been so long you know and I know she wants to see you too. Although you may not know her at first, she is quite, changed." His smile was the same one I had seen on the video but now there was a gleam of sadistic humor hiding in his eyes.

I shrugged. "Thanks but no. I got places to be, people to save, maybe some other time."

McCauley shook his head. "Alright Charlie, but she'll be so disappointed when I tell her. Are you sure you won't reconsider?"

I snorted. "Sorry crazy, but I don't plan on dying yet. I'm sure _mother_ will understand that." If he couldn't hear the sarcasm in that then he was stupid as well as insane.

"Oh Charlie she's not dead, not really-" Crazy man was saying when something pinged on his desk.

He turned to look at it, then us. "Excuse me just one moment." He said before turning and walking back across the room.

It was then that I probably did the single most stupid thing I have or ever will do in my entire life.

I found my boom.

I snuck a look at Pardus just to make sure he was watching something else instead of me. He was. Then I casually stuck my hands in my pocket and casually took out a fancy sliver lighter with the curling initials M. J. engraved on one side. Of course it wasn't mine. Like any prison, the School took away all personal belongings except your clothes (sometimes) when they took you in. The Director had kindly leant me her lighter.

And by leant, I mean I swiped it from her pocket when she leaned in close to me to say that she could do anything. I guess she didn't mean she could see everything. I suppose that proves it. She most definitely is not a mother. It is a well known fact that all mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. My mother certainly did. She could stop me from eating candy colored insects without even looking away from her conversation with Dad.

McCauley pressed a button and I flipped open the fancy little lighter. It might have clicked, but if I couldn't hear it over McCauley's irritated yelling then neither could Pardus.

"What do you mean on hold? You can't put this project on hold! When I tell the Director what you're doing Atkins she's going to stick you in the freezer _with_ your precious experiment!" McCauley was screaming into the speaker. I guess the crazies didn't get along so well.

I flicked on the lighter and a little flame appeared.

"Don't give me that trash excuse Atkins. I'm going to string you up by your thumbs and then we'll see whose laughing."

You want to know something funny? Ah of course you do. A few years after the Director took over the world, she and her crack team of scientists created a new anesthesia for their poor experiments. It worked quickly, was fairly predictable in its procedure, and posed little threat of killing the patient instead.

The funny part is that it's also horribly, highly flammable.

And there was a large tank of it sitting not two feet away from me with a long crack in the casing. I had heard it whistling ever since I got in here.

Thinking that this would teach them to mess with me and my family, I grinned like a lunatic and stuck the lighter next to the whistling crack.

The whole room exploded in a flash of fiery red and white.


	24. Chapter 23: Walking Through Walls

First post of the new year! I hope you enjoy it, even though it is short. Happy New Year! May we all thrive in the next semester of school, or at least survive.

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Three: Walking Through Walls

Liela

I could tell without knowing exactly what Charlie had done that it was incredibly stupid. I didn't know it held the record for stupidest thing he'd ever done, but it still sounded pretty darn stupid.

I was taking a casual stroll down the hallway with Leopa's claws digging into my back when I heard it. I felt it too; Charlie's boom shook the building right down to its foundations. Dust shook down from hanging lights and Leopa and I both stopped and looked up. My feathers squeezed closer together in fear and I'm pretty sure that Leopa's ears flattened back on her skull.

Before you ask, of course I knew it was Charlie. Who else do you know that goes around blowing up evil buildings on a semi regular basis?

I whirled around and punched Leopa square in the jaw. She stumbled backwards reaching up to her face in surprise. Then she growled at me like a leopard that's just caught sight of its prey and I realized I should have run. She jumped for me, claws out and ready to grab my neck. I ducked and threw my elbow up into her stomach. I heard a wuff as all her air left her body. I shot to my feet, throwing her back to the ground. She kicked out her feet quicker then I thought she would and I tripped over her paws and fell hard on my rear end. However that seems to be my most padded area so I wasn't hurt. We both staggered to our feet. Leopa lunged for me again. I didn't bother trying to duck this time. Instead pulled back and hit her chin with the base of my palm. Her neck snapped back ad she flopped down to the ground. I stayed long enough to make sure that she was only unconscious and still breathing (I didn't want to actually kill her) and then I turned tail and ran down the hall as fast as I could manage.

I could only guess where they had taken Rebecca, but it did help that the interns had turned left when they had taken her out. Leopa and I hadn't made it that far from the room where they had kept Charlie and me so I suppose you could say it was more of an educated guess.

Red lights and ear splitting sirens were going off now. Charlie's boom must have set something important on fire or at least been really big because there weren't any people in white coats anywhere I could see. They had all run to wherever Charlie was.

After the sixth empty doorway and no sign of anyone at all I felt safe enough to yell. "Rebecca!" I shouted hoping she was close enough to hear me. "Rebecca!"

No one answered and the hall remained empty.

"REBECCA!" I screamed.

Still nothing. I ran on looking into open doors and small windows for small, white heads.

I turned a corner, beginning to feel the short time wrapping around my neck. If I didn't find her soon I'd either have to leave or let them catch me again. I wasn't sure which was worse.

Finally, a faint, child's cry reached my ears. I skidded to a stop and frantically looked around. There was only one door off to the left and I raced to it. I threw open the door, making sure it didn't close and lock behind me. I was in a cage room, just like any other. Large animal crates lined the walls two deep with sick children and animals filling most of them. One of the little girls was crying loudly.

In the cage next to her a young girl with dirty white hair and a strained face was trying to calm her down.

"Rebecca!" I called out thankfully.

She looked up, surprised to see me, along with everybody else in the room.

I turned in a frantic circle looking for the release button that turned off the locks on all the cages in the room. "Where is it?" I said beginning to panic. We had to get out here quick.

A teenage boy with dark hair, brown skin and long fangs pointed at the other side of the door. "It's right there. Now hurry up and get us out of here." He said.

"I'm trying." I said as I shoved all my weight on the sticky button (they don't use them all that much).

All the cage doors snapped open.

All the children and assorted furry creatures that could jumped out of the cages and then helped the ones that couldn't do it on their own. They congregated at the door as eager to be out of here as much as I was.

"Is everybody out?" I asked, checking cages to make sure they were empty. I would hate to leave even a cricket in this place.

There were assorted yeses and nodes.

"Good let's get the heck out of here." I said and scrambled out the hall and to the left, trying to remember which halls to take to get to the magic store room. If I remembered right, we were really close to the escape room.

"Oh, oh!" I skidded to another stop and the people right behind me ran into me, causing a traffic jam in the middle of a high security, mostly fatal, mutant making building. "It's this door. Go, go, go!" I whispered anxiously. The sirens weren't so loud here. There still might be people out and about ready to spot us and throw us back in our cages.

The children hustled through first, the older kids herding them from behind. I waved them all on wishing they would hurry and get in. Finally the last kid went through and I checked the hallway. Nobody to the right and nobody to the left. Unfortunately that included Charlie.

"Where is he?" I hissed under my breath.

"Hey girl!" The dark haired teenager who had pointed out the release button snapped at me. "What are we doing in here? Are you crazy or just stupid?" He demanded hotly.

I would have snapped back but I was too anxious over Charlie. He wasn't stupid enough to blow _himself _up was he? Was he?

It turns out he was but that's not the point.

I turned around and pointed at the far wall. "Go through there. There should be a short drop and you'll land in the sewer pipes." I said quickly.

The teenage boy looked at me. "You _are_ crazy." He said.

I glared at him. "No nitwit it's not a solid wall. There's a glitch in some mysterious machine that will get you out of here. Now go, before they realize your room is empty and send their security guards."

The teenager shared a look with the kid next to him. Then he made his way through the crowd and jumped. From the way he flinched I think he expected to give himself a concussion.

Instead he disappeared.

There was a general gasp from the kids (and from me). None of us had ever seen someone jump through a wall before without the wall or the person's head shattering except in Harry Potter.

When nobody else moved I hissed at them to, "Go!"

They jumped and someone fell through the wall on accident. One by one they jumped through the wall, some with their eyes closed, some holding their breath, some just too scared of what was out here then what was behind wall number one to even cringe.

I checked the hallway again, but Charlie still wasn't there.

"Ohhh, Charlie." I muttered and stomped my foot in frustration. "Where are you?"

Footsteps ran down the hall toward me.

I smiled joyously. He made it! He was okay!

Instead a lost looking intern slipped around the corner, looking this way and that for something or someone.

I ducked into the doorway as quickly as I could and hoped he was too distracted to notice me. I pressed against the wall next to the door and held my breath.

_"Keep going."_ I thought fervently. _"Keep going. Don't come in here. Don't see me. Don't see me. Don't see me."_

The intern stopped, gasping for breath. "Where is it?" He whispered to himself. "Where did it go? Oh she's going to put me on her operating table if I don't find those papers."

There was a shuffling sound and then the intern groaned and raced off again.

I started breathing again. I waited a moment to make sure he was gone then I peered out of the doorway. All clear once more. No interns or doctors.

Or Charlie. "Drat it Charlie." I muttered. I couldn't wait for him anymore. If the kids were smart they were waiting ankle deep in School sewage or if they weren't so smart they had started walking already, looking for a way out. Plus if I waited much longer, there would be more then one hysterical intern poking his nose around here.

With one last look down the hall hoping that Charlie would suddenly appear at the last minute like he usually did, I turned and dashed through the wall with a running start.

"Ew!" I said disgusted as foul smelling sewage splashed up on the wall. The group of children was standing a safe ways off. Apparently they had learned after the first few landings to stand well back from the exit.

"Is everyone here?" I asked quickly standing up careful not to look at the murky liquid around my feet.

The dark haired boy nodded sharply. He was holding the little boy that had been in the cage with the girl I had heard crying. "We're all here. Now what?" He demanded. I think he was a little too used to being the one in charge.

"We wait." I tried to order as sternly as I could.

He gave me that crazy look again. "Wait?" He demanded. "In this muck where they can find us?"

"Stop picking fights Ricky." A young voice ordered weakly.

Ricky and I turned toward the young girl that had spoken. She was holding the little girl that had been crying. I noticed that she looked similar to the little boy Ricky was holding. It was Rebecca.

"We can't stay here Mouse." Ricky said to her. "They'll find us eventually and we need to be on another continent by the time they find our cages empty." He said.

"But her friend is still stuck in there." She said hoisting the little girl higher up on her hip. "They're the ones that knew my name. They know my brother. I'm not leaving without them both." She said with more determination than I had thought possible from her thin frame.

Ricky looked back and forth between the two of us. Then he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but we shouldn't spare more then five minutes." He said.

I nodded sharply. "Charlie will be here." I said severely, trying to believe it whole heartedly. I didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't make it.

Rebecca looked doubtful, but she still agreed. "Alright." She said. Then she turned to me. "I sure hope your friend is fast."

I swallowed hard. "Yeah, me too."


	25. Chapter 24: Five Minutes

Happy Valentine's Day! Unless your single like me and it's just another Sunday, except with more chocolate (I like that part! ;3) So in honor of this minor but lovable, eatable holiday, here is the next chapter. Maybe Charlie and Liela will even fit thinking about love in on their busy, death defying schedules...

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Four: Five Minutes

Charlie

Much to my surprise I wasn't dead.

Even more surprising I wasn't burned or maimed either.

I found I was barely hurt as I tossed the chair and the empty set of shelves that had pinned me to the ground away. From their burnt condition I guessed they had taken the brunt of the explosion. I had a few scratches and bruises and I ached something fierce, but other then that I was whole. The shelves hadn't faired so well. All that was left was the back board and it snapped into pieces when I threw it.

Another groan let me know at least one of the others was alive as well. I threw the chair that had been lying on me in the general direction of the groan and tripped out the door. A yelp let me know that I had hit the mark.

I ran down the hall, trying to remember where I was in the building and how to get down to the freaky wall where Liela and Rebecca should be. I turned in what I hoped was the right direction and finally noticed that I was seeing red and there was a ringing in my ears. I shook my head to clear it and ended up running into a wall. I hadn't thought that the explosion had hit me this hard.

Then sound leaked back into my ears and I realized that the ringing was fire alarms and the red was the lights that were swinging around with the sirens.

"There he is!" An angry voice called out behind me. "After him!"

I ran faster, nearly falling over when I took the next corner. A loud grumbling of voices followed me. I think a couple of them actually snarled, like large, furry animals. Before me was only a long thin hallway with no windows and few doors.

"Ah great." I thought to myself. I couldn't go the right way once in my life could I?

"Hurry up, we've got him now." The same voice yelled excitedly.

Crud. That was not what I needed to hear right now. 'Hey where'd he go?' or 'Drat he's disappeared.' would have been much better.

But instead I pushed myself faster and tried to think of some way to lose the angry mob behind me.

And then suddenly the mob was in front of me.

I slid to a stop, very confused. Maybe it was because I had blown myself up but I thought that I had somehow gotten turned around and I was now headed toward the mob that wanted to de-feather me, then tar me, and then feather me again.

Then I turned around and saw that the original angry mob was still behind me.

Oh good. It's nice to know I'm not crazy. I'm just trapped.

I took the next hallway I could find and ducked into the next open doorway before they could see what I did. I had hoped for another hallway or at least a big room with lots of junk, but like everything else today I was sadly disappointed. Instead of a big space to hide in I found myself in a cubicle.

For those of you who don't know what a cubicle is, it is a small box not much bigger then what big screen TV's come in. You know the kind you play in as children when you can still fit inside them.

I thought quickly, or quite possibly not at all, before diving behind the biggest pile of stuff I could find. I ended up pressed inside a small black cabinet that was missing two of its feet. I couldn't close the door all the way either, but I hoped that since I was still dressed all in black (the Director hadn't made us change into those nasty hospital gowns yet) I would blend in with the shadowy cabinet.

The mob followed me around the corner soon enough. "Spread out." I heard Pardus's rough voice order. "He can't have gotten very far. You two check the far rooms. The rest of you circle around so he can't escape." There was a smattering of assents before the general shuffle of large groups of people moving.

Pardus however didn't leave. Through the crack in the door I could see his booted feet come into the room. He moved slowly enough that I couldn't hear his boots hit the floor. If I hadn't been able to see him I wouldn't have known he was there at all, but then again I suppose that was the point of his sneakiness.

I heard him sniff the air; following the trail I couldn't help but leave behind. Hey it's not my fault I only see modern plumbing ever two to six months. And before you start wrinkling your noses at me I _do_ bath more often then that.

He took a step towards my cabinet, then two. I held my breath. I decided that after another step or two, I would burst out of the cabinet and jump him. Hopefully he would be too surprised to claw me to shreds.

He took another step.

"Whatcha looking for Pardus?"

The new voice took us both by surprise. I couldn't really jump, crammed into this box as I was, but Pardus nearly jumped out of his skin. I muffled a laugh as I saw his boots clear a nearby table as he whirled around to see who was standing in the doorway.

"Dr. Akins," He greeted the crazy doctor sourly. "What are you doing here?"

Akins's shoes stepped into my limited field of view. "I heard you managed to lose my favorite canary. I thought I would help you search for him. After all this time I'd like to think that I know how he thinks."

I shuddered.

But if the two of them noticed the slight shake of the cabinet, they gave no sign. "I don't need your help old man." Pardus spat with a slightly feline hiss. I could just picture his fur standing on end. I would have shaken my head if there had been room. Bad move. He had been polite to McCauley for a reason. Apparently he forgot that reason now. "If I remember right you weren't that good at catching them before anyway."

I couldn't see exactly what happened (I wouldn't see anything interesting unless they decided to kick at each other) but there was a loud slam and a rattle as Pardus's back hit the wall. I saw with amazement that the bad cat's feet had left the floor. Who could've guessed that Elmer Fudd was strong enough to lift up a leopard?

"Listen putty tat," Akins's voice was soft and dangerous. I remembered how he had snapped into crazy mode before I had gone to meet the Director. I shivered again at the memory of his wild face and burning eyes. "These canaries are mine understand? You can tell your friend," I can only assume he meant McCauley, "to back off. He's already had his chance and he bungled it. He knows it as well as I do. Even the Director knows it. Does he really think she'll give him a second chance so easily?" Pardus didn't answer. "Now here is what you're going to do. You are going to go tell McCauley that Charlie and his girlfriend are mine. I get to decide what to do with them and he is going to stay out of my way. Got it?"

I could imagine Pardus's frantic nod so clearly that I smiled at his uneasy face whether it was really there or not.

Wait a minute. Girlfriend?

"Good. Now get out." Atkins snapped as I tried to fathom why he thought Liela was my girlfriend. Yeah I know we could finish each other's sentences half the time, but that's just because we've been stuck together for so long. Plus she doesn't even look at me like that. At least, not that I've noticed.

Pardus slid back to the ground and left the room as quickly as he dared. It was quiet for a long moment. Atkins adjusted his coat, smoothed down his shirt and muttered something about it being hard to create good help these days. I breathed as quietly as I could, praying for him to leave so I could find that magic storeroom and Liela.

Now don't go getting funny ideas. We had to get out of this place is all. You don't honestly expect me to just leave her here? Sheesh, what kind of readers are you?

Then finally, much to my relief, Atkins made his way toward the door. "I won't have you ruining my experiments bird brat. You have until the time I come back to get your feathered self out of here. If I find you again I'll make you part of the experiment." He said harshly. Then he left.

I didn't move as I tried to think of how he knew I was here. He hadn't seen me. He would have had to bend down to do that and I would have noticed if he did. So how had he known I was there? What in the world was he playing at?

I heard the mob report to Atkins that they hadn't found me. He ordered them to expand there search in a lazy tone of voice. Briefly I wondered if he had just been letting his crazy show again. But then I shook my head. Atkins may be insane and down right scary half the time, but I never claimed he was stupid. Somehow he had figured out I was there.

I waited another moment as the mob trooped away to follow orders. When no one returned, I slunk out of the cabinet, taking only a moment to stretch out my legs (they had gone all tingly) before I snuck to the door and peered outside. All clear.

I was hesitant to just run out the door and down the hall. I was pretty sure of where the magic room was now, but there was no cover between here and there. I pulled my head back into the room trying to think of if there was any other way to the exit. There were always the vents, but the sirens were still going outside so there was a good chance that they had been locked down as well. Hollywood had ruined any chance of anymore villains forgetting that escape. I could try the other door, but I had caught a glimpse of yet another sterile, white room when I had been trying to find a place to hide earlier. Most likely it was a working room, where the doctor could inspect his patients or papers or some other such thing. I thought harder. I needed to get out of here quick.

I checked out the hall again, this time looking up at the ceiling. Pipes ran along side simple, bright lights that swung erratically over head, illuminating everything below them in a stark, unforgiving white light. However now that I noticed, there was a dark little crawlspace above the lights. If I could make it up there, then I could crawl along the water pipes. The contrast between the white hall and the dark ceiling was so great that even if they looked up, my pursuers wouldn't see me unless they knew I was there.

I made sure that no one was there to see me before I left the safety of the doorway. With a little help from my wings, I jumped up and grabbing the bottom most pipe, swung up onto the thicker ones above it. There was one in particular that ran the length of the hall and T-ed at the corner that was about as thick as a young pine tree. It was more then enough to hold my weight. With some balancing difficulty, I started crawling off down the pipe towards the end of the corridor.

Just out of curiosity, do you think Dorothy ever worried about falling off the yellow brick road? Yeah, I suppose not. Never mind.

I froze when I turned the corner. The mob had thinned, but there were still maybe six to eight cattle prod toting, security guys wandering systematically along the hallway. Two were always out in the hall, searching for me. I should've felt flattered I know, but somehow the emotion was completely **squashed** by the realization that they would use those cattle prods on me if I slipped up. Of course, if I literally slipped up, then I would fall down, and then I'm sure my inner ear would be too confused to let me run in a straight line, much less away from them.

In light of that, I carefully placed each hand in front of me before I put my weight on it. I was maybe a little more then halfway along the pipe when my knee slipped out from under me.

"CONG!" Went the pipes as my chin hit it with enough force to rattle the metal.

I don't know if it was just because the sound mainly reverberated up into my empty head, but only one of the guards looked up. I pressed myself flat against the quivering metal, hoping to make it stop its shivering from giving me away. I watched from the corner of my eye as the guard peered intently into the gloom above the swinging lamps.

"Did you hear that?" He asked his partner a few doors down.

The other man looked up at him in a bored way. "Hear what?" He asked.

"That noise, like something hitting the water main. I think something might be up there."

The bored guard rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like you thought that little old lab rat was the escaped sewer monster? I don't think so. You're just hearing things." He said dismissively.

"I dunno..." The first one started.

"Well I do." Said lazy guard sounding a little more perturbed. "It means you have got to stop staying up all night playing Halo. You're too tired to do your job right. Besides, I whoop you every time." He sounded smug.

Now the first guard rolled his eyes. "Shut up. You cheated."

"Nuh uh cry baby. I beat you fair and square."

I rubbed my chin as the continued to bicker. _"Thank you addictive, gory, video games for sleep depravation."_ I thought with a smile.

I crawled over a few more security infested hallways before finally coming to an out of the way corridor with only two doors, one on each side. After making sure that the rooms were empty, I hopped down, landing in a crouch on the ground. Still no one appeared. I snuck quickly into the storeroom and rushed at the back wall. I closed my eyes at the end, not wanting to see the seemingly opaque wall fill my vision.

I ran smack into the thing.

Holding my aching head, I got up off the floor, hoping no one had seen that. I reached out a hand and touched the wall. It was as solid as Grandma's house.

Wrong room.

With a promise never to tell this to Liela ever, I stumbled into the other room. This time I checked before running at the wall. My hand went right through the concrete. With another groan, (Why couldn't I have checked the first time?) I leapt through the fake wall and landed six inches in sewer muck.

"Charlie!" Liela tackled me wit a hug and my head hit the sticky sewer pipe wall behind me.

I groaned again. "Liela that is my head!" I told her reaching up to feel if I had anything more then a bruise. With my luck my concussion record had just ended.

She took a step back and propped her hands up on her hips. "Well excuse me for worrying about you. What took you so long?" She demanded.

"I had to blow up half the building to get away from Pardus and McCauley. It turns out he's even crazier then Atkins." I told her, finally catching sight of the group of kids standing behind her staring at us. A small girl with white hair stood near the front staring at me unbelievingly. "Who're your friends?" I asked.

"They were in the same cage room as Rebecca. I couldn't just leave them there." She said. I nodded, agreeing with her. That would be cruel.

"It's Mouse."

Liela and I turned around took look at the young girl that had spoken. It was Rebecca.

"Huh?" I asked sounding stupid.

She licked her lips nervously and hoisted the little girl she was carrying higher on her hip. "My name," she explained, "it's Mouse."

Liela and I looked at each other confused. She was Aaron's sister wasn't she? "Okay," I finally said. "But we were looking for our friend's sister. He said her name was Rebecca."

A hesitant smile began to stretch across her face. "Is your friend's name Aaron?"

I nodded.

The smile bloomed like a rose. "That's my brother." She said excitedly. "Where is he? Is he here?"

Liela shot me a sorrowful look. Tears were already beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. I shook my head at Rebe-Mouse. "No, I'm afraid he's not coming." I said, that awful knowledge that Aaron was dead weighing down on my chest, making it difficult to breathe.

Mouse's face fell. "Where is he?" She asked again.

I swallowed hard and stiffened my spine. Whether I liked it or not I had to tell her. She deserved to know the truth. "He's dead. Dr. Atkins killed him about a month ago." I told her as gently as I could.

She staggered as if the words had hit her like a physical blow. Only the dark haired boy next to her kept her standing. "Oh," She said weakly. "I-I see."

Liela stepped forward, tears running down her face now. She wrapped Mouse in a hug as she started crying too. They stood there for a moment, forgetting where we were in the presence of their grief.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" The dark haired boy next to Mouse demanded. With a start I realized he had cat ears and a spotted tail. I distrusted him immediately.

"Aaron was my friend." I told him as if that should clear everything up. "I've known him sense he was six years old. I wish I was lying, but I'm not."

He still glared at me. "That still doesn't me we should just automatically trust you. Give me one good reason why I should even listen to you." He dared me.

I opened my mouth to tell cat man off, but then a muffled sound of a dog's bay drifted through the magic wall. We all cringed. The dogs would find our scent and lead the doctors to the wall. It wouldn't take them very long to find out where we went with our scent still fresh in the room above.

"That's why." I said in a hard tone pointing up at the space where we had come from. "Because I know the way out and the last place you want to be is here."

Kitty glowered at me a moment more before stepping aside. "Fine wise guy. Which way is out?"

I looked around, getting my bearings. "This way." I said pointing behind me. "The pipes will intersect there, we want to go right. That should lead us outside. Come on." I said when none of them moved.

Kitty was the first to follow. I didn't take it to mean that he suddenly trusted me, but rather that he wanted to stick close to me so he could pounce if he needed to.

"I can take her." I heard Liela offer Mouse. Their eyes were red and watery, but they had cried themselves out for the moment. Mouse nodded and handed Liela the little brown haired girl she was carrying. The little girl must have been amazingly easy going. She smiled up at Liela as she put her arms around her neck and started chatting at her in the way only very small children have. Liela smiled back at her and nodded at the right places, encouraging the little girl to talk.

It was weird, but right then, despite the face that bloodhounds were tracking us, that there were at least two crazy men that wanted to take an exclusive look at our brains in a jar, and that an even crazier woman just wanted to kill us, I found myself wanting to smile at Liela.

She looked up and I realized how goofy I must look. "You take point." She said. "I'll make sure we have everybody."

I nodded and made my way through the crowd of kids to the front. "This way." I told them.

I had just caught a glimpse of sunlight when there was a loud crash of breaking metal and sloshing water behind us.

The kids froze like a group of scared deer that have just heard the click of the hunter's gun. To his credit, cat boy had his claws out, ready to fight rather then just let them take him and the smaller ones behind him. Like my mom used to say, it's always smarter to fight.

Unless it's smarter to run.

"Go!" I yelled, shoving the kids closest to me toward the patch of daylight. Once one started running they all followed. I fell back to where Liela and Mouse were. Liela was alright even holding the little girl, but Mouse was already breathing hard. I began to worry when I she started to wheeze too.

Not bothering to stop, I picked her up. She yelped, surprised, but didn't struggle like I thought she would.

A bullet zinged past my head, making a loud noise as it hit the side of the pipe.

"Don't kill them you nitwits!" A woman's screechy voice echoed down the metal tube. "The Director wants them alive. Use the tranquilizers."

_ "Great,"_ I thought, _"that's reassuring."_

I noticed clouds of dust as I got closer to the exit. Then I backpedaled fiercely. The pipe ended as abruptly as the land around it. Outside, a cliff had appeared; the drop almost straight to the ground. However the cliff slanted just enough that there was a chance that if you jumped, you might survive the slide down the earth. The puffs of dirt were from the kids that had decided they would take the chance and jump rather then let the Director's goons recapture them.

I agreed with them whole heartedly as I jumped off the edge of the sewer pipe. Mouse gave a short screech and covered her eyes when she saw I wasn't jumping down the side of the cliff like the others. Instead I had launched myself into the air and snapped out my wings to catch the strong wind blowing around me. Liela jumped not two seconds later and together we soared up into the sky.

Needles suddenly struck me as something heavy hurled itself onto my back. I yelled and dropped a good twenty feet before regaining control. I looked back, afraid to feel the unnatural relaxation of tranquilizers making their way through my bloodstream.

Instead I saw a cat's small, whiskery, face peering over my shoulder.

"Ricky!" Mouse cried seeing my newest passenger. She held out her arms to him and he clawed his away up my back and into her hold.

"Remind me to skin you when we land." I yelled at him over the roar of the wind. He hissed at me.

I looked over my shoulder again to make sure Liela wasn't far behind me. She wasn't. I also saw that she had the little boy Ricky had been holding as well as the little girl. He must have given him to her before she jumped.

She smiled at as we climbed higher into the sky. Relief crashed into me as I realized we would be okay and I smiled back at her, wanting to laugh out loud.

Then a brightly feathered speck pecked her right shoulder and I saw her look of surprise and alarm.

The tranquilizer worked quickly and she began to fall.

"Liela!" I yelled even as I turned and dived after her. I saw her eyes begin to close as the little girl clung to her neck and began to scream. The little boy's grip wasn't as good and he began to drift away from Liela's still half conscious form.

I reached out and grabbed him, but Liela was falling too fast. "LIELA!" I yelled again.

Her wings opened feebly, but there wasn't enough time for her to pull up before she plummeted through the growing twilight into the tree tops below us.

"LIELA!"


	26. Chapter 25: Old Friends

I meant to post this last Thursday. Oops. By the by I also read FANG and it was AWESOME!!! I finished it in two days. Alright, so a day and a half. I loved it but now I have to wait a _year_ for the next one to come out. Wah. Sad.

Anyway I hope you love this next chapter. We get to meet some of Liela's old friends. Please review! And Happy Easter!

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After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Five: Old Friends

Liela

I was so tired. Generally that's what happens when you're hit with a fast acting tranquilizer and then crash through forty levels of tree branches, but at the time I didn't think about that. It took all I had left to put one foot in front of the other.

I was out in the backwoods of somewhere, I knew that much, but I didn't know where I was or sometimes even what I was doing. I was so confused, but somehow I kept walking. Occasionally I was aware of the little girl sleeping on my shoulder, but not often. She was just there.

I don't know how long I walked. It was dark when I started and it stayed dark until I found the large river cutting through the thinning trees. I was surprised to know that I recognized it. It was the Aa. Yeah you read right, the river is named Aa. My parents had taken Heinrich and me to visit it a few times back before they had died.

"Liela?" A surprised voice appeared behind me.

I turned around clumsily. "Charlie?" I asked my voice thick and slow.

The man, no boy, no teenager - yeah that was the word I was looking for, he was a teenager - stared at me with wide blue eyes. I was surprised to find I recognized him too and then decided it wasn't so strange seeing as I was hallucinating. I had never coped well with tranquilizers, even Nyquil made me see bright colors.

"Heinrich." I said sleepily. "I was just thinking about you." I swayed and finally fell over. He rushed forward to catch me, but if he did I was already too asleep to notice.

********

I woke up with the strong feeling of déjà vu. I was lying in a bed looking up at a wooden ceiling and a ceiling fan as it turned lazily around just like I had been when I woke up at Mom's for the first time. I sat up, holding my head, expecting to see Mom come through the door with a glass of water and some aspirin.

As if my thought had summoned her, the door opened and a young woman stepped through holding a tray with water, aspirin, and food. At first I thought it was Cal or Ella, but then she stepped close enough for me to see her face past the shadows of the room.

My eyes widened in shock. "Michaela?"

My old friend's eyes filled with tears and before I knew what was happening, she dropped the tray and threw herself at me.

"Oh Liela, Liela!" She cried as she hugged me. "I thought you were dead. Where have you been all this time? How could you scare me like that, just up and disappearing for almost four years? Are you alright? Are you hurt? What are you doing here?"

I managed to push Michaela back far enough that I could look at her. "Whoa, whoa! I can't answer your questions if you keep asking more. And what do you mean what am _I _doing here? What are _you _doing here? Why aren't you at home in Berlin?"

Michaela sat back on the edge of the bed and wiped her eyes as dry as she could. "Mama and Papa still live in Berlin, but Christian got into university early and David, Heinrich, and I came up to visit him."

My eyebrows went up again. "Christian's in college already? Isn't he only nineteen? Sheesh, I always knew the boy was smart but still." I was impressed. Looks like all those books Christian had kept his nose in had paid off.

Michaela smiled and laughed. "Yes, he's majoring in computer business. He wants to create his own company. He's off to a great start too. I won't be surprised if he has his own business before he graduates. Now will you please tell me what you were doing out in the middle of nowhere with a toddler?"

I didn't hear her. The door had opened again and a teenage boy stepped into view. He came into the room more cautiously then Michaela had, a small girl following him.

"Heinrich." I said, a smile blooming on my face. I tried to stand up to go hug my brother, but my legs crumpled underneath me.

He stepped forward to try and catch me. Between him and Michaela they managed to put me back on the bed. I wrapped my arms around my brother and felt my eyes start to tear up. "I can't believe it's you." I told him. "I missed you so much."

He pulled back. "You can't believe it's me? I can't believe it's you. Where have you been all these years Liela? Why didn't you call us? Why did you leave?" He asked. I saw an old hurt come into his brown eyes and I felt like I wanted to cry, for a much different reason then before. I remembered my aunt and uncle and cousins' abuse, and I had been glad to be rid of them, even if it meant running for my life from aluminum murderers. But even if I had been kidnapped, I had left my brother behind to deal with our wretched family. I had tried to comfort myself by saying that the Clutter's would take care of him (and since he was here I thought they must have) but that still didn't excuse my actions, or rather inactions.

"I didn't leave on purpose. I was kidnapped by Jeb Batchelder and a friend of his." I said, feeling it was a pitiful excuse. "I've been in and out of Schools and on the run for the past three years."

"Four." He said automatically as he tried to take in this information. Everyone knew the name Jeb Batchelder, some for different reasons then others. As the Director's head of experimentation, the public knew the old creep as the man who stole away people to practice his incision skills on.

I cocked my head. "Four? No, it can't have been four years. I'd have to be eighteen." I couldn't have forgotten my own birthday, could I?

One corner of his mouth pulled up in a crooked smile. "Trust me Liela, it's been four years. Happy birthday." He told me.

Well here was a shocker. I had forgotten my own birthday. "Thanks." I told him still unable to believe it. "So that means your, what, sixteen now yeah?" I asked almost as surprised by his age as I was by mine.

"Almost," He said with a fuller smile. "My birthday's in two days. Today's the fourth." He said, realizing that I hadn't forgotten his birthday as much as forgotten the date.

"Hm." I said patting down my pockets. "I think your present will be a little late." I said distinctly aware that I didn't even have a stick of gum to my name.

He laughed a boyish sound. "That's okay. As long as you promise to be here on my birthday I'll let you off the hook." He told me.

I looked down at my lap. "Yeah, about that..." I said.

Even though I couldn't see his face I still could picture the disappointment on it. "You're going to disappear again aren't you?" He asked in a sad voice that nearly broke my heart.

"I have to find my friends Heinrich. We escaped from the Monster School and the doctors are probably still looking for us all. If they've recaptured them I have to know and I have to find out now."

My brother sucked in air and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "The Monster School?" He whispered horrified. "What kind of trouble are you in Liela?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Only a little more then usual. When he kidnapped me, Batchelder...changed me. Now the Director has me on a list somewhere with all her other _patients_," I spat the word in disgust, "and she won't stop until she's found me and Charlie." I said, desperately hoping he would understand.

Heinrich nodded dejectedly. "I understand." He said.

I didn't believe him.

"Heinrich-" I began again, but he stood up and quickly left the room before I could get any further.

Michaela came in just as he left with a worried look on her face. She came and sat on the edge of the bed again. We sat there a moment in silence.

"We all missed you, you know." She said after a long stretch of sad silence. "Heinrich most of all. He actually cried when we couldn't find you Liela." She told me without looking up from the floor.

My shoulders slumped more. Our cousins were bullies as I've said before, and they picked on Heinrich constantly. He had learned shortly after our arrival at our aunt and uncle's house that crying only invited more jabs.

Michaela gave a sad, wistful sounding sigh when I didn't speak. "But if you have to go I understand. If by some horrible occurrence I was in your shoes I would want to know what happened to my friends too. But try to remember, that we're still your friends too Liela. Please don't be so quick to leave us again."

And with that she left.

Great, my first meeting with my friends and family in more then four years and already they were upset with me. I hadn't even been awake an hour yet. I felt like I could just sink through the floor.

But since I couldn't I sank under the blankets instead and burrowed my head under the pillow.

********

I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up next, the orange glow of street lamps came through the shuttered window instead of yellow daylight. I felt ruffled, like I had slept but hadn't gotten any rest. Then I remembered by pitiful reunion with Michaela and my brother. Dejectedly I got to my feet and crossed the room to see if maybe they were still here.

I opened the door to find a well lit, well furnished apartment. To my right was a small kitchen complete with stove, refrigerator, and microwave. To my left was a slightly bigger living room with couch, loveseat, and television. There was a door set in the far wall that I assumed led either to a bathroom or another bedroom. The television was on and I could see Michaela's blonde head over the top of the couch, a smaller, browner head bouncing up and down next to her.

"And then me and the birdy girl were flying. Whoosh! But then the meanies shot the birdy girl with a red feather and she got all sleepy and fell down." The little girl said waving her hands about as she regaled Michaela with the tale of our escape. Michaela oh-ed in all the right places encouraging the girl to continue her story.

The little girl finally saw me and turned with a big smile. "Birdy girl!" She cried delightedly and hopped over the back of the couch to wrap herself around my legs.

"Little girl!" I cried back, mimicking her tone. She giggled and I picked her up before settling myself down on the couch next to Michaela. After a few seconds she started to squirm, having had enough of this whole sitting still business. She jumped off my lap and went to inspect the TV, which was flashing brightly colored images of some kind of popular sweet.

"Is Heinrich still here?" I asked quietly after a moment.

Michaela sadly shook her head. "He went out with Hannah tonight. I think he said they went to see that new movie with that girl from Roses Are Red." She said as if I should know what she was talking about. I didn't of course, the last movie I had seen was when Charlie, Aaron, and I had been forced to hide out in a theater during the matinee time. It was some kind of cartoon about a fish and a boy and lots of ham. We had laughed at it.

"So he's on a...date?" I asked feeling very confused. If my baby brother was taking a girl to a movie then it would be a date right? And if they were out on a date then they were going out yeah? And if they were going out then didn't that mean they were boyfriend and girlfriend?

Michaela nodded. "Yeah, Heinrich and Hannah have been dating for almost a year now. She's a nice girl. Her parents live here but she goes to that boarding school just down the street from our old school. Remember? The one with the library lions sitting outside the iron gates?"

I nodded. "Yeah I remember. So she's really smart then? Or did her parents send her as punishment?" I asked, remembering some of the girls that had gone to that school. A few were nice. Most were not.

Michaela shrugged. "Pretty smart yeah. She already has early admission to that new university in Magdeburg. I forget what it's called though."

I whistled, reluctantly impressed. It sounded like Heinrich didn't attract bad girls, thank you God. Maybe I didn't need to worry about this. I would anyway, but it felt nice knowing I didn't have to.

Michaela and I turned when we heard the door open. I expected Heinrich to come in, since he was the only other person I knew that was staying here, but instead I saw a young man with blonde hair and blue-gray eyes walk through the door. He looked worn out as if he had been thinking all day about a tough problem.

"Hi Christian," Michaela called excitedly. "Look who's finally awake." She said pointing to me.

The way Christian stared at me made me fidget, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Finally after a long awkward moment, he smiled at me and his already attractive features became handsome.

I smiled back at him. "Christian, you're all grown up too. Sheesh, first Heinrich and now you. How is it that boys keep growing even though we stopped in high school?" I asked Michaela.

She shrugged. "I don't know, but it isn't fair either way." She said and I nodded in agreement.

Now Christian's smile was more teasing then blinding. "It's nice to see you too Liela. It looks like you've done some growing up of your own. Where have you been these last few years?"

The little girl giggled cutely and clapped her hands at the small furry Muppet creature on the screen, catching everybody's attention, Christian's most of all.

"Or maybe I should ask who you were with." He amended, giving me a different look entirely now.

I felt my face turn beet red. "Wha-? No. No, she's not mine. I rescued her from the Monster School is all. I don't even know her name." I said quickly. Sheesh, what kind of girl did he take me for?

"Lola."

We all turned again to look at the little girl. She was smiling like only small children can and pointing to herself happily. "Lola." She said again.

I pointed to myself a bit stunned. "Liela." I told her.

She grinned even wider then before. "Hi." She said with a little wave.

"Um, hi." I waved back.

How was that for an introduction?

Lola turned back to the TV and I turned back to Michaela and Christian who were just as amused by the little girl as I was.

"Did you just say you escaped from the Monster School?" Christian asked sounding as if he thought he couldn't possibly have heard me right.

I nodded. "Yes." I said not wanting to go into more detail. Besides the fact that it was dangerous, I also didn't want to know what Christian thought of Charlie and my life's adventures smashed into the past four years. If he thought Lola was my daughter what would he think of sleeping out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the fire, the trees, and two boys (and those aluminum murders of course) for company?

"So I take it you won't be able to stay for long." Christian said as he sat down on the other end of the couch.

"I shouldn't." I told him. "It will be dangerous for you all. And my friend Charlie is looking for me. We were separated when we ditched the school."

"I think," Christian said slowly, "that I can help you find your friend. It may take a few days but-"

I felt my eyes grow huge. "Whoa there!" I yelled throwing out my arms to stop him. "You can't come with me. That would be hazardous for us both." Not to mention stupid. Christian didn't know anything about avoiding, surviving, or wrecking Schools. He wouldn't make it a month they way that I lived.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "I didn't mean I would follow you." He said as if _that_ should have been obvious. "I meant that I..." he hesitated, "have a friend or two that can help you look for him and possibly see if he's in the Director's computer system." He said anxiously scratching at the back of his head.

With his genius skills with computers I had a feeling that the one who would be hacking into the Director's system would be Christian. It was possibly just as dangerous and downright stupid as him coming with me, but not quite.

Plus I was desperate to know where Charlie was. He could honestly be _anywhere_ and it would take me years to search everywhere. As much as I didn't like it, if I wanted to find Charlie before I was one hundred years old I was going to need someone's help. And here God had just happened to put a helpful someone in my path. Really I should say he had put me in that someone's apartment, but oh well.

I nodded. "Alright. I'll take any help you can give. But how are you going to tell me if you find him?" I asked. It's not like he could just send me a letter in the mail.

Now Christian gave a confused laugh. "We're not about to kick you out just because you're conscious Liela. And I think I know how to find your room." He told me with a crooked smile that made my ears burn red for some reason.

I quickly shook the blush away. "Well I can't stay _here_." I said, laughing at the impossibility.

Michaela tilted her head. "Why not?" She asked honestly.

"Well," I said trying to quickly remind myself why I couldn't just stay here where there was food in the cupboards and real beds to sleep in. "Because if I'm caught here then not only will I be shipped back to the Monster School in a box but you guys will be in almost as much trouble. Do you have any idea what she'll _do _to you if she ever finds out you were hiding me?" I asked, worry for my friends making me itch to just jump out the window and fly away right then and there.

Michaela and Christian shared a look that made me think they knew _exactly_ what they were signing on for. Privately I wondered just how many 'friends' Christian had and how often he asked them to help him undermine the Director and her cronies.

Then Michaela looked at me and smiled like she knew something I didn't (it was annoying). "You let us worry about that. You just worry about keeping yourself and Lola out of sight and we'll take care of the rest." She said standing up and flouncing into the kitchen area.

Wow, if I had known that Michaela got such a kick out of hiding people from evil dictator's I would have come home a whole lot sooner.

"You hungry Liela?" She asked from behind the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room.

My stomach chose that moment to growl like a junk yard dog that has just spotted an intruder.

Michaela tried to hide her giggle behind her hand. Christian didn't even bother to try. "I'll take that as a yes." She said before busying herself with something I couldn't see, but clanked loudly.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Lola called out from the floor raising her hand as if she was in a classroom. "I wanna help. Let me help." She said excitedly rushing over to Michaela, who smiled and asked her to hand her a spoon out of the drawer.

I smiled and turned back to the TV. A cartoon with brightly colored puppets singing raucously was playing. I had no clue what I was watching but it was better then trying to start up a conversation with Christian. I still hadn't forgotten that comment he had made about me and Lola being...related.

Christian fidgeted nervously at the other end of the couch. He opened his mouth to say something, but when I ignored him he shot to his feet and left the room. I pretended not to notice.

Alright so I was mad at Christian. I mean honestly, what kind of girl did he take me for? Did he really think I was that easy going to just sleep with somebody I hardly knew and then up and disappear if I got pregnant? Just because I was running nearly twenty four seven from creatures that wanted to eat me and doctors that wanted to take me apart didn't mean that I was _easy_. No. If I ever do _that_ then I'll be married first (and given what I said before about the crazies after me I have my doubts I'll even get a date much less a husband).

I suppose this may shock some of you given my lifestyle. Well tough, this is one thing I am not compromising on.

Christian came back from wherever he had gone with a slim touch screen computer in his hand. He tapped the screen a few times and nodded as if he had finally found what he was looking for.

"Here's a map of the area around the Monster School. Do you have any idea where your friend might have gone?" He asked, handing me the computer.

I marveled at the device a moment. It was thinner then the palm of my hand, had only one button (the power button), a head phone jack, and a USB port to charge from. Everything else was done through the screen itself. I touched it experimentally and the map scrolled up. I laughed. "Everything really is at your fingertips."

Christian smiled crookedly again, but didn't laugh. I wasn't sure if he had just forgotten how to laugh or if he just didn't appreciate my joke. Either way I felt like a fool for saying anything and focused my attention on the map in my hands.

"Does this thing have a pen tool?" I asked at a loss at how to make the thing do what I wanted.

"Yeah, right here." Christian said leaning over to touch something that maybe was supposed to look like a tiny pen on the screen. He came closer then I thought necessary, and then he stayed there staring that the screen his face not two inches from mine, much to my squeamishness.

I touched a finger to his temple and pushed him away a good enough distance.

Now he laughed, making me turn red with embarrassment. He laughed at me but not my jokes. Go figure. "I see you still don't like people reading over your shoulder."

"Nope." I said letting him think that was the only reason I had pushed him away. I turned my attention back to the map and kept it there this time. I found the Monster School and circled it so I wouldn't have to search for it again. Then I found the river town we were in and circled that. They weren't too far away from each other, but then again I hadn't flown very far before they had shot me.

I enlarged the map with a flick of my finger and studied the surrounding area. If I hadn't made it very far then most likely Charlie had only flown as far as necessity required. He wouldn't want to get too far away because he still needed to look for me. Okay, so he didn't really _need_ too because I was fine and dandy at the moment. But he didn't know that. Knowing Charlie (and after three, no, four years together I'd like to say I know him pretty well) he was close by and looking for me like I was looking for him.

There were only two little towns around Münster including Dieburg, where Christian's apartment was. The other town, Reinhein was a little farther off to the south, but that was the direction we had been flying when I fell out of the sky so I thought it was still a good possibility.

I circled the three towns, Münster, Dieburg, and Reinhein, in one big black stroke. "Check here." I said to Christian. "Last I knew he was heading south away from the School but we didn't have a concrete goal in mind when we escaped.

Christian looked at me like I was kidding. "Seriously?" He asked taking in the circle.

I nodded with a slight frown.

He sighed like he was asking himself what in the world he had gotten himself into. "Alright then, I'll call me friends and let them know what to do." He said turning back to what I assumed was his room. I turned back to the TV not sure what else to do.

Before I could figure out what was dancing on the screen now, Christian poked his head out the door. He had a nervous on his face. "Hey, later tonight maybe you want to go to the ice rink? Michaela has some skates you can borrow I'm sure. Or we could just play Broomball." He offered, anxiously scratching at the back of his head.

I grinned. I love Broomball. "Yeah sure. I haven't played, well, since before I left." I told him.

He grinned widely. "Great." He said then pointed awkwardly at the computer he still held. "I'll just get back to the, uh, thing." He disappeared again.

I laughed and shook my head at him. Okay, so maybe I would forgive him for his assumptions after all.


	27. Chapter 26: Suspicious Characters

Hey yall, its been far too long I know, but here's the next chapter and if I may get all formal for a minute I would like to dedicate this chapter to the first day of school and single rooms! I hope all of you have as grand a year as I'm expecting. Good luck and enjoy!

* * *

After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Six: Suspicious Characters

Charlie

You want to know what's worse then being trapped in an old abandoned church that has no a/c and hasn't been cleaned since the eighteen hundreds with some twenty odd escaped mutant children stuck inside?

Being trapped in an old abandoned church that has no a/c and hasn't been cleaned since the eighteen hundreds with some twenty odd escaped mutant children and one cat.

One very mouthy, annoying, stupid cat.

"Look," the furball was saying, "we can't just stay here. The whole city is crawling with the Director's guards. It's only a matter of time before they find us here. We need to keep moving." He argued.

I held back a snarky remark. "No we don't. If they were going to search this place they would have done it already. We're safe here, for now at least." I told him trying to keep my cool. I didn't want to tell him _how_ I knew we were safe here since besides the fact that I didn't like him to begin with, I didn't know him. For all I knew, he was the Director's spy and more then willing to sell us out for a pat on the head.

Furball's lips drew back in a feline snarl. I shifted my weight ready for his attack.

"Both of you stop it." A soft, but somewhat weak voice ordered from one of the splintering pews. Furball and I looked over at the young white haired girl sitting there holding two of the younger children.

"But Mouse, we can't trust them." Furball complained.

She scowled at him. "_You _might not, but _I_ do." She told him. "He's my brother's friend and I believe what he says. Besides, Charlie's right. It's been three days already. If the Director's goons were going to find us here they would have found us already. The Phoenix has always been careful with their safe houses. I'm going to take a big guess and say that there are ten different kinds of protection around this place. Am I right?" She leveled her big brown eyes on me, daring me to do something stupid, like lie.

I swallowed and nodded. My friends in the Phoenix were _not_ going to be happy when they heard about this.

Mouse turned that level headed gaze on her friend Mr. Whiskers. "See Ricky? We're perfectly safe."

Furball looked like he wanted to keep hissing at me. I crossed my arms over my chest, and faced him dead on. I could handle anything he threw at me.

But then with another look at Mouse he spun on his heel and stalked away. I'm not sure but I thought I heard him mutter something that sounded like, "No such thing as perfection."

I shook my head and ignored Kitty's silent hissy fit. I took a seat next to Mouse and for a moment we sat in what might have been a companionable silence. It also might have been called awkward.

"How did you know this was a safe house?" I asked, partly out of curiosity and partly because I've never been fond of silence.

Mouse shrugged. "The doctors liked to talk about the Phoenix. It was their favorite gossip so I know pretty much what they know, like how safe houses are usually in old buildings with electric force fields, tight security, and an oblivion shield around all the other protections."

Whoa. "You spotted all that just sitting here? Even the oblivion shield? That's amazing." Oblivion shields are handy things. There sole purpose is to distract attention from whatever's inside them. You could also say that it repels attention. Someone could walk by the biggest mansion you have ever seen, complete with neon signs and famous statuary, a thousand times and _still_ never see it because the oblivion field wouldn't let them. Don't ask me how it works beyond that. Even if my education wasn't from the point of view of the lab rat, I would still be lost with this high level science gobblely guck.

Mouse shrugged, a small smile playing on her pale face. "Well it helped that the Phoenix stamped their mark on all the food bars you gave us." She said showing me the underside of her nutrient bar where three curved lines vaguely resembled a bird with its wings spread open; the sign of the Phoenix.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, shaking away dust. "Yeah, they probably shouldn't do that."

Mouse chuckled and nodded her agreement.

"So," Mouse went on after we had sat there a moment, watching the other kids that had followed us munching slowly on their bars (I wouldn't go so far as to actually call them food). "What do we do now?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair again. It was an excellent question. Too bad I didn't have a ready answer. "I need to find Liela before we leave." I had no idea where she was or how I was going to find her but hey, Mouse didn't need to know that quite yet.

Mouse looked up at me with some surprise. "We?" She asked.

I nodded. "Well yeah, I didn't come all that way to rescue you just to ditch you somewhere else." A thought occurred to me. (Shut up that shouldn't surprise you. I think all the time.) "Unless you don't want to come with us, that's fine too I guess." I hadn't really thought that she wouldn't want to come with us once Liela and I had saved her. But then again, I had never thought that we would have saved anyone except Rebecca-er Mouse.

Mouse looked at the ground, thinking hard. I saw her give a look at Ricky, where he stood a little ways off holding a sleeping Lola.

"Can my friends come too?" She asked in a small voice. "I really want to go with you, but I don't want to leave without them. We've been together almost longer then I can remember."

I gawked. "All of them? I don't know how much you know about the outside world Mouse, but a group of twenty kids is bound to attract attention especially when there aren't any adults around."

"Huh?" Mouse said looking around. "Oh no, not all of us you rescued, just the four of us; Lola, Liam, and Ricky."

I lowered my eyebrows at furball. Of course, Ricky was part of the erm, flock, no, pack, no that's for dogs, eh, herd maybe? What _do_ you call a group of cats?

I shot a pleading look at Mouse. "Do we really have to drag that furball around?" I whine-asked. I _asked_.

"I know you may not like cats, given your feathers, but Ricky is my friend. He's looked out for me when no else would. He's good. I promise." Mouse said.

"It's not that," well, not completely anyway, "it's just that on our way here we were attacked by cats." I said lowering my voice with a furtive look at the furball. He didn't look like he was listening.

Mouse looked confused. "Like housecats or like Ricky?" She asked apparently questioning my courage.

I rolled my eyes. "Like Ricky Mouse, except they were different kinds of cats. There were six of them all together, three boys and three girls."

"What kinds of cats were they?" Mouse asked lowering her voice. She was beginning to sound a little worried.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure except for the lions, though I do think that they were in pairs. You know, two lions, two something elses, and two other ones. Although come to think of it I think Pardus and Leopa are Leopards." I said. It made since. I mean who would have a name like Leopa if she wasn't a _Leopa_rd.

Mouse looked at the ground, thinking. "And they worked for the Director. They were really trying to kill you and your girlfriend?"

I nodded. "Wait what? Liela's not my girlfriend." I said forgetting to keep my voice low.

Twenty kids turned to look at me.

I was pretty sure my face was going to explode.

"Right, so, uh anyway, yeah, yeah they tried to kill us." I said whispering again.

Mouse looked like she wanted to laugh at me, but she quickly sobered up. "I understand your concern Charlie, but Ricky doesn't work for the Director. He's been in the cages with us for years and I trust him completely." She said with a determined little nod that reminded me of Aaron calling the last piece of Peanut Butter Pie. Beware to anyone who didn't hear him and ate it anyway.

I growled in frustration. "Aghr, do we really have to?" I asked.

Mouse gave me a stern look. "Yes." She said crossing her arms over her chest.

I exhaled miserably. "Fine, but I'm still in charge." I said.

She looked at me like I was a disobedient five year old. I ignored her.

"So where do you think you're girlfriend is?" Mouse asked.

I glared lightly at her. "I told you, Liela's not my girlfriend." I said and no, I did not sound defensive. I have nothing to be defensive about. I was just stating the honest fact there. What? I _was_.

Mouse believed me as much as you guys do. "Really? Well don't you like her?" Mouse asked seemingly innocent.

"Well, yeah she's my friend but-"

"Don't you think she's pretty?" Mouse asked not letting me finish.

"Well, yeah I guess so-" I said cautiously as Mouse pulled me into uncharted waters.

"Well does something about her bug you? You know, like she laughs like a donkey or spits when she talks?" Mouse asked.

"What? No of course not!" I said. Some people spit when they talk? Nasty.

Mouse blinked her big brown eyes at me innocently. "So you like her, you think she's pretty, and she doesn't bug you. Why don't you go out with her again?" Mouse asked.

"Wha-? Wait that's not what I meant. It's just-she and I-we're not-" Useless words kept spewing out my mouth. I knew I should stop but I couldn't make myself shut up. Mouse had actually flustered me. And that is not a word I usually use, especially to describe myself.

Finally I managed to stop talking. "She's just not my girlfriend." I said lamely.

Mouse raised an eyebrow at me but not before I caught her victorious smirk. "Oh, okay then. I guess I misunderstood. I thought she liked you too." Then she hopped off her stool and went to go talk with Ricky.

Sneaky little Mouse that one.

It couldn't have been over a half an hour after my talk with Mouse when the slow creak of the church's large wooden doors made us all look up and freeze like deer after they hear the click of the hunter turning the safety off his gun.

"Get everyone into the back rooms." I whispered to Mouse and Ricky. Mouse nodded, but furball blatantly ignored me and crept down the hall that led to the front of the building. Holding back my aggravated growl I glared at his back and followed him, careful not to make a sound.

Ricky was good at sneaking, I'll give him that. Of course he did have cat genes which explain a lot. He slunk down the hall, back against the wall, eyes and ears alert to any other noises that didn't belong here. Even as I focused on the possible threat lurking in the abandoned church I couldn't help but think that Ricky looked like he had a lot of practice at preparing to ambush people from around a corner. Not for the first time I wondered who he had been before the Director got her claws into him and where he had come from. And then I couldn't help but wonder at the startling coincidence at first being attacked by killer cats and then rescuing one that supposedly was on our side.

The low hum of voices reached us now. Ricky and I stopped and strained our ears to listen to our intruders.

"I'm telling you Nessa this isn't the place. Why would they be here? This church is almost smack dab in the middle of the city. The Director would have found them by now if the had hidden here." A girl's know it all voice said. From the way she talked I guessed she was a teenager.

There was a sound like someone sniffing. Maybe this girl Nessa had a cold. "No they're here alright. Trust me Eris. Dust doesn't need to where denim."

I looked down at my jeans. Most of the other kids were wearing them too. This girl had a sharp nose.

Ricky's pupils were black slits now that never left the corner. As the girl's kept talking he sunk into a crouch, white claws coming out of the extra skin at the base of his fingernails. His lips twitched up in a low growl, showing teeth as sharp as tiny daggers.

I took a step back. You know, to give him room to jump.

The soft sound of the girls' footsteps stopped. "Wait," Nessa said softly, "did you hear that?"

Ricky leapt before Eris could answer. I heard one of the girl's scream. I dimly registered the thump of someone hitting the floor before I dashed out of the hall we had been hiding in.

Ricky had one of the girls pinned to the floor. She yowled frighteningly as she wriggled and squirmed trying to get away from the heavy furball. With some surprise I saw she had nails and sharp teeth of her own, both of which she was putting to good use on Ricky's face and shoulders.

"I'll let him handle that one." I thought not at all eager to take on a female feline. Normal girls were bad enough in a fight but a cat? No way, count me out.

I ran after the other girl instead. She was bolting towards the door with impressive speed. With the head start she had I knew I wouldn't be able to catch her on foot, so I cheated a bit. I loosened my wings and with one good flick of my feathers I jumped at her. The extra boost gave me the distance I needed so in the end all I had to do was reach out and tackle Nessa or Eris or whatever her name was.

We went down heavy and I rolled to try and avoid landing on the bottom. It wasn't that she was exactly hefty, but it's never pleasant being the bottom slice of a bird sandwich.

"Let go of me you freak!" She yelled.

Great, just what I needed; a girl with a serpent's tongue.

Despite her wild hand slapping I managed to pin both of her arms. I sat on her just for fun.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I demanded.

"What do you want with us?" I heard Ricky ask the other girl.

Mine didn't say anything, just glared at me, poison in her amber eyes.

Ricky's girl was sizing him coolly. "You're not an avian hybrid." She finally said.

"Gee whatever gave you that idea?" Ricky asked sarcastically showing his fangs and twitching his ears.

The girl sighed. "Great. I don't know who you are but I've got no business with you." Then she looked at him again and smiled deviously. "Although that could change if you like." She said with an alluring smile and a wicked look.

For a minute I thought Ricky would cave to that smoldering look. His grip on her wrists loosened and he leaned down like he was going to kiss her neck.

I noticed despite my shocked staring that my girl just rolled her eyes and made somewhat disgusted noise. "Idiot." She muttered. I wasn't sure if she meant Ricky or her friend.

The other girl's smile turned from charming to victorious as Ricky leaned closer.

But then Ricky smiled, which caught me by surprise all over again. Who knew he knew how to smile?

"Nice try." He told cat girl. "But I've fought someone like you before. You've got a lot to learn. Now what to do you want with us?" He asked again.

Despite her apparent and incredibly odd loss the girl smiled again. "With you? Nothing." And then when it looked like Ricky was going to blow a gasket she added, "I was sent here by a friend of mine. He's looking for a friend of a friend if you get my meaning."

Ricky still glowered at her. "And who are you looking for exactly?"

"A bird brain named Charlie Ride. I thought he might be here."

"Hey!" I said. I didn't even know her. Why is she insulting me?

She leaned her head all the way back so she could see me. She smiled. "Oh so you're Charlie. Nice to meet you, I'm Nessa."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Um, hi?"

She winked at me. Ricky glared at this nonsense.

"So who asked you to look for me anyway?" I asked curiously.

Nessa settled back on her space on the floor. I think she wiggled her shoulders just to mess with Ricky. "A guy named Christian Clutter."

I tried to remember that name. "I don't know who you're talking about."

She sighed, sounding as if she was perfectly content to stay there pinned to the floor with someone sitting on her. "Yeah I figured as much. Christian said he was asking for a friend of his. Um, Lieland? Laila?"

"Liela?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, that was it. Liela's looking for you. Christian said to try here. Apparently the Phoenix use it every once in awhile."

"So, you're not here to kill us then?" I asked just to be sure.

"Not yet anyway." The girl I was sitting on growled irritatedly. "Now if we're all good and dandy how about we step up or friendship to the next level and you GET OFF OF ME!" She yelled.

I rolled off of her before she could bust both of my ear drums.

With a disgusted noise she sat up and scooted farther away from me.

"And then we can step up our friendship again and you can just stay right there." I heard Nessa say to Ricky.

Ricky rolled his eyes and got off of her. "Cut out the pheromone crud. I told you already it won't work on me." He said lightly getting to his feet.

Nessa raised an eyebrow at him as she sat up. "Who says I wasn't being serious?" She asked.

I wasn't sure but I thought Ricky looked at her over his shoulder. If Nessa noticed she ignored him.

"So I take it there are others with you? Can I meet them? I don't suppose you have food. I'm starving." Nessa said finding her way down the hall we had come from. She was probably following the trail we had left behind.

Ricky rolled his eyes again and followed her.

"So what's your name then?" I asked the girl I had pinned.

She glowered at me from under her bangs. "Don't talk to me freak." She growled.

Well wasn't she quite the charmer.

Eris stomped lightly down the hall. I waited a moment before following her so that there wouldn't be a chance that I would run into her again in a small enclosed space.

Nessa was waiting for me in the shadows of the hall. I guessed Ricky had followed Eris instead because I didn't see either of them.

"Sorry about her," Nessa said as she fell into step next to me. "She's one of those people that have...issues with what they are." She hesitated.

I nodded. Some people, okay strike that, _a lot_ of people aren't okay with the fact that they aren't one hundred percent human. Some people, like yours truly, get the cool powers though, and aren't so angry with the world even if the non human genes do cause their own fair share of trouble.

"So what is she then? Besides up to her neck in teenage angst." I asked.

Nessa looked up at the cracked ceiling and put her hands behind her back. "Angst, I've always thought that was a weird word _'angst'_ and Eris definitely has it, although she has more reason then most. Her parents were killed in a freak lab accident."

"Lab accident?" I asked skeptically. All the 'accidents' in those labs were on purpose.

But Nessa shook her head. "No, her parents were on _her_ side. They were doctors and apparently a Bunsen burner or something went off and blew up half of the building. After that I guess the Director decided Eris wasn't worth protecting anymore because she was shipped into group home."

"Where she met you I take it?" I asked.

Nessa nodded. "Now don't get all sentimental on me now, save that for Eris. I've never met my parents. I was taken from them before I was a minute old and I've been in _Mrs. Roberts' _home my whole life." From the way she said _Mrs. Roberts_ I took it the lady wasn't all about sweetness and candy canes. "Eris and I are room mates."

I nodded now. It made sense in a way. It's hard to keep anything from the people you live with. But it did make me wonder who had been the first one to work for this Christian guy. There was a world of difference between the friend that decided to stab a dictator in the back and the friend that was just dragged into it.

Nessa apparently still had more to say. "Don't be too hard on her just because her parents wore lab coats." She asked. "It's just..." she hesitated.

"Just...?" I prompted when she didn't go on.

Nessa shook her head. "Never mind. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. It's Eris's business not ours. So," She said suddenly perking up. "How long have you known this Ricky guy? He's _cute_." She said peering at Ricky around the corner of the hall.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm leaving now."

She laughed at me before skipping over to Ricky and Mouse on the other side of the room.

I shook my head at her. "Cats are crazy."

It's true and you know it.


	28. Chapter 27: Benched

Merry Christmas people! I don't know how the weather is were you all are living but its eighty down here. -Sigh- Four days before Christmas and I'm walking outside in a skirt and a short sleeved shirt and I'm still too hot. Where did the Christmas weather go? Oh well at least I get to where my boots. Yay! Well enough about weather and wardrobe. I hope you like this next chapter. Liela manages to hurt herself, Charlie actually starts to show his emotions (gasp!), and Nessa of course is still causing trouble. Just another day in the lives of mutant teenagers I guess. Please don't forget that beautiful little button down at the bottom with the word 'review' written on it. Merry Christmas and enjoy your holiday!

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After Armageddon

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Benched

Liela

The stick was heavy in my hands but not heavy enough to keep me from lifting it over my shoulder and whacking the scuffed blue puck that was speeding towards me. There was a satisfying crack as stick met puck and the blue circle sped away, fast enough to be considered a menace to any head that might be in its way. Fortunately everyone decided that their life was worth more then preventing my goal and they stayed out of the way. The puck snapped into the hokey net with a rewarding shuff.

"Woo yeah!" I yelled throwing my arms in the air as I did my victory lap around the ice rink. "We won again! Take that boys!" I yelled at Heinrich, David, and Christian on the other side of the rink.

"Yay!" Lola cried excitedly from the stands where she had been watching the game. "We win! We win!" She yelled, spinning around in a little victory dance.

"Oh yeah, girls rule!" Michaela shouted, high fiving Heinrich's girlfriend Hannah. Michaela had been right when she had told me that Hannah was a good girl. She was smart if not a little shy around me. I had learned from Michaela that she was in on Christian's double dealings with the Director. She sometimes covered for Heinrich when he was off on one of Christian's save-the-world-from-evil missions.

"So, do you boys want to play again?" Hannah asked our somewhat dejected opponents.

Heinrich shook his head. "No way, I've learned my lesson."

"Yeah," David said. "That's the third game you girls have won in a row. I'm done." He said. "Besides I'm hot."

Christian looked at his younger brother in disbelief. "You're in an ice rink. How can you be hot?" He asked with a laugh.

David shrugged. "Well it doesn't help that they ran us in circles." He said gesturing to Michaela, Hannah, and me as we skated around the far end of the rink occasionally spinning in tight circles and leaping like swans.

"Oof," was all I managed when my landing went wrong and my ankle gave out from under me. I hit the ice hard enough to rattle my teeth inside my skull. Apparently I needed to work on my swan a little more.

I sat there dazed for a moment, trying to remember how to breathe.

"Liela!" Michaela cried skating over and bending down next to me. "Liela are you okay?" She asked.

Christian suddenly appeared next to me so fast that I had to do a double take. "Are you hurt Liela?"

I looked at him, my head only wobbling the tiniest bit I swear. I meant to ask him how he had gotten here so fast. Unfortunately the words got all mixed out when they came out my mouth so instead I asked, "Where did you come from Christian?"

My friends shared a look that clearly wondered how hard I had smacked my head. Truthfully I hadn't smacked it at all, but try as I might I couldn't make them understand that.

"Come on Liela," Christian said helping me to my feet and pulling me across the ice. He had to help me step over the edge to the bleachers more then I like to admit, but well, I guess it was more necessary then I had thought because I nearly fell over when Christian let go of my shoulders.

He laughed lightly, irritating me. "You haven't skated in a while have you Liela?" He asked as if the answer was obvious.

I shot him a sour look but chose not to answer that. "Just help me get my skates off." I grumbled. "I think I sprained my ankle."

A worried look plastered itself on Christian's face and suddenly he was all help and kindness. I raised my eyebrows at him. The Christian I remembered was a bit standoffish; always more interested in his computers then the people around him. It was Michaela and David who were the outgoing ones in the family, always hanging out with friends like Heinrich and yours truly.

Between the two of us we managed to free my feet from the tightly laced confines of my ice skates. The toes on my left foot were a little numb. I wished my right foot was. My ankle hurt like someone had snapped the bone with a rubber band and it was already a little swollen.

"Well at least we don't have a lack of ice." Christian said, grinning cheesily as he jerked a thumb at the ice rink behind him.

I glared at him. "Well then start chipping schlauberger." I shot more meanly than I had originally meant.

Christian looked taken aback. "What? Why me?"  
I winced as I gently rotated my ankle. It felt like something was burning under my skin. "Because it was your bright idea."

Christian's cell phone went off before he could think of anything else to say. With an apologetic look on his face he stood up and stepped back before answering.

_"That's more like the Christian I remember."_ I thought to myself with a shake of my head. As he mumbled his hellos I carefully folded my leg up to my chest so I could get a better look at my foot. It wasn't a pretty sight let me tell you. I was sure I would have a bruise for the next week.

"What? Already?" Christian suddenly shouted in surprise. Then with a cautious look at me that had me raising my eyebrows at him, he lowered his voice. "Well where are you? What? You'll have to say that again I didn't hear you? Nope one more time you're really starting to break up."

"I SAID WE'RE RIGHT OUTSIDE!"

All the others looked up at the new voice as it echoed across the rink. I, on the other hand, was so startled out of my wits that I tried to jump up, fists out ready to take on whatever threat had found me now. Unfortunately I forgot about my ankle and ended up sprawled all over the floor. I sighed in aggravation. I mean I knew that old habits died hard but sheesh couldn't they at least sleep for a little while I took a moment to panic on a sprained ankle? I mean that _hurt_.

I rubbed my hip where it had hit the metal foot of the bleachers as I looked over at the group of people that were filing into the rink. I couldn't make out any faces, but I noticed some horrifyingly familiar furry triangles coming out of the lead girl's head.

I could feel my feathers trying to burrow into my skin. _"C-c-c-cat!" _I thought, panic rising again. I tried to stand up to run, no to fight, no to-ah to do _something_ but I couldn't manage it.

Then Lola screamed, making me jump a full foot in the air. With all these bumps I kept giving myself it took me a moment to realize what she was saying.

"Liam, Liam, Liam, Liam!" She yelled scrambling off the ice and running with all her four year old might to tackle the little boy that was standing next to a now recognizable teenage boy with dark brown cat ears and a long twitching tail. It was that grumpy cat boy from the sewers that had wanted to leave without Charlie.

Speaking of Charlie, where was he? I didn't see him amidst the cats and all the mutant children crowding into the entrance of the old building.

"Ha ha! Christian! I told you we would find them first." The same girl who had shouted first said as she skipped lightly forward and threw her arms around Christian's neck. I tried to stifle my laughter as she smacked a large kiss on Christian's cheek. He blushed and shot me a worried look that I didn't quite understand. Why should I care if a girl went and kissed him? Especially when it was so clear she was just trying to mess with him.

"That's, um, great Nessa." Christian said as he removed cat girl's arms from his neck and put a step of space between them. "Where were they then? Is everybody alright?" He asked glancing back at the group of children. He let out a sigh. "Oh boy there's more of them then I expected. Where are we going to find places for them all? Michael said he could only take four or five without people asking questions."

"What about Serena and her friends? They've got space for eight or so between all of them. Plus they raise eyebrows as it is. What are a few more people shaking their heads at a gaggle of girls that don't care what others think of them?" Nessa suggested, suddenly all seriousness.

Christian nodded silently, lost in thought as he took in the twenty or so kids standing in the rink lobby and the handful of others that were still crawling through the passage that led from the outside wreckage of the abandoned strip mall to the inner sanctuary of the ice rink. I gave them a funny look myself. They were so quiet, not even whispering amongst themselves. Kids were always talking. Their silence unnerved me as I finally managed to balance on my one good foot. Wincing a little, I limped forward. Maybe I could set them at ease, let those poor kids know they were safe here and we were going to find safe houses for each and every one of them.

Finally the last one crawled through the passage that had been smoothed by my and my friend's countless trips here. He groaned as he got to his feet and I dimly noticed he was taller than the others as I tried to ignore the sharp sparking pain in my ankle. It was only after I looked down at my feet again that I recognized the dark brown eyes and the tiny scar that lay halfway hidden in his left eyebrow.

"Charlie?" I asked somewhat surprised.

I must have caught him by surprise too because he smiled at me, honestly wonderfully smiled at me.

I felt a smile practically bloom on my face, rose petals and all.

"Charlie!" I yelled and ran forward, arms outstretched just like Nessa's had been a minute before. Somewhere in the back of mind I couldn't help but think that I was unconsciously copying some cheesy movie or four.

But then my ankle caved and, well, I fell on him. It was like when a scene of a play went wrong and instead of faking the fall the actors really collided - SMACK - right into each other.

"Nice to see you too Liela." Charlie groaned as he rubbed at his shoulder where my chin had got him when we landed.

I tackled him with a real hug after we sat up. He stiffened like I knew he would (Charlie doesn't do well with sudden hugs) but then he surprised me. He hugged me back. And not like that awkward pat on the back sort of hug that said he really wanted me to let go of him, but an actual, honest to goodness hug that said he had actually missed me. If traveling with Charlie for four years had taught me anything, it was that he was overly self sufficient. I mean even all you guys should have picked that up by now. Sometimes it felt not so much that he relied on me for help as much as for company. It was thoroughly annoying but, well, that was just how Charlie was.

Soon enough I remembered to pull back and smack his arm.

"What the heck took you so long Charlie? I haven't heard from you in almost two weeks! Do you know how worried I was about you? Where in the world have you been?" I demanded pulling back enough to get a good look at him. He was covered in the dust and grime of old, little used spaces and his shirt had a few tears in it that I didn't remember being there before but other then that he looked very fine.

That is to say-I mean, he looked eh, um, good, yes-NO! I mean yes he looked good, Charlie always looks like that but I just meant he-I'm-oh man, I'm just digging myself in deeper aren't I?

You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything at all okay? He wasn't hurt. That's what I meant. I couldn't see any cuts or bruises or nasty colored body fluids seeping out from under Charlie's shirt alright? Now quit that smug little smirking, yeah that's right I can see you there. Stop it. Right now. I was just worried for him alright?

Charlie rubbed his shoulder and gaped at me like I was mad. I would have felt offended if I hadn't seen him trying not to smile at me. "Ow Liela what was that for? If anyone should be worried here it should be me. The last time I saw you you had been shot with a tranquilizer dart and were falling, no, _plummeting_ to the ground from five hundred feet up in the air. How are you still alive? And walking? I mean I was expecting a few broken bones at the very least." Charlie asked me, looking down at my torso and legs as if he had to check and make sure I was fine before he could believe it.

I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't help but smile anyway. "Thanks for your vote of confidence in me Charlie. I am perfectly fine. I met some very soft trees on the way down. We had tea."

"They were the Keebler Elves' trees!" Lola piped up suddenly appearing at our side.

Charlie and I laughed at her cuteness. Lola, encouraged by out laughter, giggled cutely and skipped back to her brother. She grabbed his hand and pulled him off towards where Michaela and Hannah were talking with some of the other children to introduce him.

A shadow appeared on our other side, falling over the two of us. I looked up to see Christian standing over us, an uneasy smile plastered on his face.

He looked at us carefully, taking in the fact that I was basically sitting in Charlie's lap and how his arms were wrapped around me in a loose hug. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked us slowly.

I felt my face light on fire as I realized what he was thinking. I rolled off of Charlie and stumbled to my feet, careful of my swollen ankle. I noticed with some surprise that Charlie's face was bright red too. I wanted to laugh. I had never seen Charlie _embarrassed _before.

"No, no we were just talking." Charlie said in a calm voice as if we really had only been talking.

Which o-of course we were. I mean it's not like I'v left anything out. What you have is a pure transcription of what Charlie and I talked about. And let me tell you tha-oh man I'm digging again.

"You must be Charlie." Christian said, holding out a hand to help Charlie up. Charlie eyed it, noting Christian's awkward smile and forced politeness just like I did. I shook my head at him. His little danger-radar was probably screeching, "DANGER! DANGER CHARLIE RIDE! FLY FOR YOU LIFE!"

"Don't be so paranoid Charlie." I told him when nobody moved. "Christian is an old friend of mine and he helped me find you again. He's not about to trade us into the school for a pack on the back from the head witch. Mainly because he hates people messing up his hair." I said with a grin as I went to muss his bangs. He jerked back, annoyed but didn't say anything.

Charlie just rolled his eyes at me. "We just busted out of a hellhole Liela. Can you really blame me for using a little extra caution?" He asked but he took Christian's hand anyway.

"Well it's not like you use caution in the first place Charlie." I said with a grin.

He mock glared at me. "I do my best to keep you safe for the past four years and this is the thanks I get; a best friend with a smart mouth." He muttered slapping me on the back in what would have been a perfectly acceptable friendly way on any other day.

But that day my ankle was twice its normal size and horrifically sensitive. So it took offense when I stumbled from Charlie's slap and accidentally put my weight on it.

Charlie caught me before I could get up close and much too personal with the spongy floor of the ice rink. "I thought you said you didn't hurt yourself when you fell? What happened?" Charlie asked, concerned as he steadied me.

"Ah I took a dive when we were playing broomball just now. It's nothing really. It just hurts."

Christian snorted as he and Charlie helped me to the bleachers. "Nothing she says. She can't walk on her right foot and she says its _nothing_."

I shrugged. "It beats a spinal tap." I told him.

Charlie nodded in understanding. He could never stay still when there was a four inch needle between in wings. It didn't help that it drew things out unnecessarily and made the stupid intern the doctors foisted us off on even more nervous then they usually were. The last one couldn't stop shaking by the end of it all.

Christian looked at us like we were mad. Then when we did nothing more then stare back he sighed and shook his head. I guess there was just no way he could understand.

In what I thought was a bit of chivalrous overkill, both Charlie and Christian helped me take a seat on the tin bleachers. As I gingerly tried to pry my warm, knee high socks off of my injured foot I caught sight of Christian glaring at Charlie. A kind of full on 'mind-your-own-freakin'-business' glare that had me raising a somewhat irritated eyebrow at him. Since when was _I_ any of his business? I mean he pretty much ignores me for the fourteen years when I practically lived at his house and then after a four year absence he's all smiles and over-protective possessiveness whenever another guy – who happened to be my _friend_ who had helped keep me out of serious trouble during those four years I was missing – tries to help me sit down? Sheesh what in the world was Christian's problem?

An unwelcome suggestion started worming its way into my mind. _No,_ I thought, _he couldn't possibly. Not when he hasn't even _seen_ me for four years._ With this sound reasoning I quickly squashed the wormy thought.

"So you got an icemaker in this place or what?" Charlie asked Christian with a pointed stare that clearly said he had seen the other man's glare.

The corner of Christian's lip twitched but I couldn't tell if he was trying to smile or trying not to frown. "Yeah, it's in the room through the door marked 'employees only' over there." He said pointing across the rink to a door near the entrance.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at him. "Well then why the he-" He started but before he could finish what I was sure was not the kind of word you were supposed to say around groups of young children Michaela appeared, slightly breathless with a plastic cup in her hand.

"Ugh you guys are so hopeless." She said as she handed me the cup. "Liela can't walk right and you two are just standing here. Did it occur to either one of you to go and get something to bring down the swelling? Here ya go Liela. We have some towels in the back if you want to wrap the ice in one." She offered.

But I shook my head. "No this is fine thanks."

Michaela smiled at me then turned her attention to her strangely-acting brother. "Christian, can I talk to you a minute? We've got to figure out what to do with all these kids before nightfall. I don't think they'll want to sleep here any longer then they'll have too. And we don't want to attract more attention then we already have." She said steadily and determinedly pulling him away.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming Michaela. I-I'll be right back Liela." He called hurriedly over his shoulder at me.

"Okay." I said, not really paying attention to him. Instead I put the cold cup to my ankle and tried not to wince when it touched my tight skin.

Charlie's snort caught me attention. "Well you sure make friends fast." He muttered.

I looked up at him. "What are you talking about? I've known the Clutter's since I was three years old."

He looked at me like I was dense. "Oh uh-huh and I'm just supposed to believe that you really haven't noticed Christian's feelings? Mm-hm, right." He said with a roll of his eyes that said just how much he believed _that_.

That little niggling worm from before came back to life. "What are you talking about?" I asked again trying to sound normal but not quite succeeding.

"I mean he likes you Liela. Like, _really_ likes you." Charlie said looking at me with eyes full of meaning.

The worm rose on its back segment and shouted a loud, "HA! I TOLD YOU SO!" in my head. "That isn't funny Charlie." I said feeling my face start to burn more with embarrassment than flattery.

"I wasn't kidding." He said flatly. "Why else do you think he's paying so much attention to you? Because it sure isn't because you're his kid sister's friend."

I opened my mouth to say something smart, but nothing came out.

"Yeah I thought you'd agree with me." He said somewhat sourly. Then after a moment of quiet and a soft sigh, he sat down next to me. "So what are you going to do? Go out with him? I know they say long distance relationships are romantic Liela but trying to keep in touch with him as we randomly travel around the world sounds like a pain in the tail feathers to me." He said quietly, wanting to keep this conversation private.

I shrugged my shoulders. "You make it sound like I've already agreed to go out with him. He hasn't even said anything to me. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have to do anything." I said stubbornly keeping my eyes on my foot and not Charlie's warm presence sitting next to me.

I could feel him blink at me. "That's a terrible idea." He said sounding truly astonished at my answer. "You don't just ignore people when they're into you like that. Then they just keep on mooning over you when you try to be nice to them. You got to tell him to cut it out." Then he seemed to mentally back pedal. "You know, if you want to anyway. Far be it from me to tell you how to show affection." He said suddenly very interested in his scuffed up sneaker toes.

An angry fire suddenly fanned to life in my chest and I looked over at him to glare. "You're such a hypocrite Charlie. You are the last the person I would take dating advice from seeing as you've never even had a girlfriend before."

Charlie's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me? But I've been running from maniacs most of my life and it's more than a little hard to find a girl willing to live out of backpack filled with bandages and a handful of peanuts as she runs from psycho doctors with the sadistic desire to rip her limb from limb. If you ever find one I'll be more then happy to meet her." He snapped at me.

"Oh open your eyes Charlie." I huffed. _One's sitting right in front of you._

But thank God I didn't say _that _out loud.

Instead I added. "Besides, I don't like Christian like that. I like...someone else." I finished in a small voice.

Charlie looked at me as if he couldn't decide whether he wanted to keep up our argument until it was a full blown fight or if he wanted to be nosy and ask who my mystery crush was.

He opened his mouth. "Wh-" He started. But before he could finish the girl with white hair that had kissed Christian earlier bounced over to us, a great big smile on her face that showed off her gleaming fangs that were just the tiniest bit too big to be human.

"So you must be the infamous Liela." She said holding out a pale, manicured hand. "I'm Nessa. Mouse has been telling me so much about you already. I've gotta say that after five days worth of sneaking around with Charlie here I admire you're perseverance. I can't say I know too many girls that would put up with him. If he was my boyfriend I probably would've dumped him already just for being such a bossy bird brain." She said jerking her head at Charlie. I noticed her smile curdled just around the edges. I don't think she had liked being bossed around.

But I hardly paid any attention to cat girl's annoyance. My brain had stopped at the word 'boyfriend'.

"Charlie's not my boyfriend!" I practically shouted.

Nessa grinned at us, whiskers angling up impishly. "Oh really? Are you sure? He was just so worried about you that I couldn't help but think you two were you know-" here her green eyes shone so bright that I thought for sure she was going to set my face on fire, "intimate."

My face suddenly exploded in a giant fireball.

Charlie groaned, leaning over until his head was practically between his knees as he laced his hands over his dark head. "Nessa..." He muttered warningly, though most of his threat was canceled out by his muffled voice.

Nessa just giggled manically. "Well can you really blame me?" She asked holding her hands, palms up, at shoulder level as if her assumption was in no way her own dang fault. "It's not like you two are giving off 'I am single' signs sitting over here so close together. Of course you're not all 'I am half of the most perfect relationship in the world' either. Christian wouldn't be chasing you if you were." She said with a look in my direction. "But goodness I have never heard a boy worry so much over a girl as much as Charlie worried over you Liela. It's like he left half of his head with you. Trying to get him to focus on anything else was just _hopeless_." Nessa said with an airy yet slightly irritated wave of her hand.

I couldn't help but shoot Charlie a sly grin. "Oh really?"

He leaned his head on his hand and met my gaze. "Last time I saw you you were plummeting through treetops unconscious. So yes, really."

I raised my eyebrows at his admission but couldn't help but realize that I was no longer blushing solely because of Nessa. In case you haven't noticed I really don't have experience with these kinds of open and honest conversations about feelings (especially when there was a be-furred and apparently very nosy audience watching us with intense green eyes) but I couldn't stop myself from wondering if the emotional undertones I heard beneath Charlie's words were just my imagination or...something else.

A moment of silence passed before I realized I had something I wanted to say. "Thanks Charlie. I never thought you'd worry so much over me." I said in a softer voice than before. I had thought to make it into a teasing remark but something held the banter out of my voice.

Charlie suddenly looked very uncomfortable. He looked down at his clasped hands as his thumbs spun circles around each other. I could just make out the red creeping up his ears as he cleared his throat and tried to think of something to say that he thought wouldn't make him sound like a completely idiot. "Well, of course, eh, Liela. You're one of my best friends." He stumbled with self embarrassment over his words. His eyes flicked towards me and he halfway smiled for an instant, trying to show how much he meant it.

But even as I smiled back I couldn't resist rolling my eyes at him. "Well I should hope so. We've bee stuck together for what? Four years? If I wasn't your friend by now we would've wrung each others necks."

He gave a mock shudder. "Four years? Ugh, it feels like twenty."

I laughed and smacked his arm. "Ha ha Charlie. I'm not that bad. Or at least I'm not as bad as you."

"Most of the time." He qualified.

I nodded. "Alright most of the time."

A much put upon gust of air reminded us of our furry audience. Nessa was looking up at the ceiling with a somewhat exasperated look on her face. "Hopeless feather heads." I heard her mutter as she turned toward the door Christian and Michaela had just reappeared through.

Charlie and I shared a playful look. "Nosy feline." I called back just loud enough for Nessa to hear.

She turned around long enough to stick her tongue out at us.

Charlie and I laughed at her before getting up and going back to the kids we had somehow managed to rescue from the Monster School. I wish we could've stayed on that bench a little while longer but, well, reality was calling now - in several voices even - and as much as I hated to answer her reality isn't really someone you can ignore. At least not without some kind of mental disorder anyway.


End file.
